Twilight Moon
by Chaotic Herald
Summary: In the far-away galaxy, a world is being controlled by darkness. Six heroes must unite together and overcome all obstacles to defeat the evil feeding on their world before it spreads further. But will they truly succeed in the end...?
1. Chapter 1 Memories

**There is a world in the distant part of the galaxy, far away from the Sun, called Sapphire. It has a mystical source of energy that provides it with all the elemental needs of a world: the ocean – water, the land – earth, air for breathing, fire for heat, lightning and electricity for energy, light instead of the Sun, but also…darkness. This source of energy is the world's moon, the Twilight Moon, which became corrupted by an evil that very few dared to face. Ever since the Twilight Moon got corrupted, Sapphire's natural riches slowly began to drain away. Water began to dry out, land began to crumble, air was slowly fading away, heat began to disappear, energy was slowly being destroyed, light began to fade out, but darkness was expanding. Inhabitants of Sapphire tried to confront the evil at the Twilight Moon, but none of them returned alive. No one knows what evil they're facing at all, and all they can do is live quietly with it. But, there is someone with enough power to get rid of the evil, along with five more legendary warriors, who is yet to uncover the power inside of him…**

**This is a story of a young boy and a young girl who are about to face the most difficult task in history, and embark on a long journey to free…the Twilight Moon…**

**Episode One**

"Paths of Light"

**Chapter 1**

"Memories"

On Sapphire, in a smaller house near the ocean, lived a young boy, Trey, along with his mother. He had lost his father 3 years earlier, when he was 12 years old, and when the Twilight Moon got turned over to the darkside. His father had been a famous, and one of the greatest scientists ever, who was investigating the Twilight Moon's mystical attributes as to how it gives Sapphire all its natural riches, in a research facility. But then something went wrong. The giant white crystal-clear orb that was acting as the central processor of the Twilight Moon's computer turned black, and everything connected to it, including the orb, exploded. Everyone who was working on that project was affected, and didn't survive.

Ever since that incident, Trey's mother got seriously ill from the strong shock she suffered after finding out her husband had died in such a sudden and tragic way. It was an illness unable to cure. Trey, along with his best friend from childhood, Max, who lived in a house next door with his grandpa, had been taking care of her since then.

xxx

Trey was sitting at the beach of the Lassa oceanside, his hands embracing his legs, thinking deeply about his father and remembering all the happy moments he had spent with him, tears glittering in his eyes. He looked at the Twilight Moon that was slowly fading out with its radiating light to end the day.

_"Don't worry, dad, I'll watch mom out for you… I won't let anything happen to her… I promise."_ he thought.

Max came out of his house, walking towards the family well a couple of feet in front of him, carrying a big empty bucket in his hand. He noticed Trey by the shore, and a small, kind smile formed on his face, his eyebrows in a saddened state, as he started walking towards him. He sat next to him in the same position Trey was in, leaving the bucket he was carrying by his side.

"Hey… What's the matter? Is it…about your dad again?" he asked.

Trey looked at Max a bit surprised, then turned his head back to gaze at the Moon, now with a sad face again as he started talking.

"Yeah… I just remembered him again right now. It's already been 3 years, but…I still keep thinking about him every once in a while… I…really miss him." he confessed sadly, lowering his head.

Max made a sad face himself, along with a long quiet sigh.

"…I know how hard it is for you… Your dad died when you were 12 years old, and both of my parents died not long after I was born… I don't even remember them… Grandpa tells me a lot about them, and how they both died in a fire, but I'd still really love to remember them… But at least you know what your dad was like…" he tried to comfort Trey somehow.

Trey made a quiet sigh as well.

"Yeah…I know that… I just hope mom'll get better one day… I hate to see her suffer like that… But…what the heck even happened up there…?" he looked at the Moon again, "Why did the Moon suddenly stop functioning then? I wish we knew… If it wasn't for that, none of these stuff would be happening, and dad would still be alive!"

"Hey…let's just stop dwelling on the past, and think of happier things yet to come! Don't worry, it'll be okay! I'm sure your mom'll go through it fine!" said Max confidently, showing a big smile to make Trey at least a little happier.

"Yeah… Yeah. I'm sure it'll be okay. Thanks, Max." answered Trey as he looked back at Max, showing him a weak smile.

Max stood up and placed his hands on his hips.

"No probs! Now if ya'll excuse me, grandpa asked for some water, so I've gotta go fill the bucket. You know how old people get pretty grumpy fast nowadays, eh?" he laughed.

He bent down to grab the bucket, carrying a smile, as Trey laughed as well.

"Yeah, I should be getting back too. Mom asked me to get some seashells for dinner. …I hate it when she cooks dinner… Something might happen to her again if I'm not there…" he said.

The smile he had a moment ago turned back into a gloomy face, when Max sighed.

"Trey, you worry too much. Nothing's gonna happen to her! If you don't stop talking like that, you may even be right! Relax already." Max attempted to comfort him again.

"You're right… You're right. Sorry." Trey answered, shaking his head.

"Well I'm glad I am." nodded Max hastily a few times, "Now if you'll excuse me, grandpa's waitin'!" he said as he slowly started walking backwards to his house.

Trey stood up, showing a weak smile.

"Yeah… See ya later then."

"See ya, Trey. Lighten up, buddy!" Max answered, winking.

He showed a strong, sweet grin to Trey while he was running to his house, the grin slightly wide and his eyes closed. Trey showed a kind smile, but it turned back into another sad face.

_"Max's right… I am too serious about this… I just don't wanna lose mom too, like I lost dad… I really should cheer up. Mom's definitely noticing it too, so I really should change… But…still…"_ his gloomy thoughts kept confusing him.

xxx

Trey walked inside his house a couple of minutes later, carrying a bucket full of seashells, and entered the kitchen, leaving it at the table. His mother was cooking fish for dinner, humming herself a song with a smile on her face. She turned around towards Trey.

"Oh, Trey, where were you? You went out an hour ago! You didn't have to get so many seashells for dinner, who's gonna eat all of them?" she asked, showing Trey a sweet smile, her eyes closed and the smile slightly wide.

"Sorry, mom… I just got into a long talk with Max." Trey told her, a tone of slight sadness in his answer.

"Really? …He's such a nice boy, both of you have been taking care of me for so long… I still don't know how to thank you…" said Sally, Trey's mother.

"Oh stop it mom," Trey raised his voice, "you know there's no way we'd just let you suffer alone! There's definitely no need for you to be thanking us. But…do you really have to cook dinner today? You weren't feeling very well yesterday, so…why don't you just rest and let me cook…ummm…something easier than fish and seashells for dinner. Like just simple eggs or something like that, huh…?" Trey slightly grinned sheepishly, "After all, I'm no cook y'know…" he mumbled, then smiled sarcastically.

"Oh Trey, stop it. I'm feeling fine. I've been fine this whole year, just…a couple of mishaps. It's about time I did something for you instead, cook you your favorite dinner! My special **Sea Cuisine** recipe with fried Lassa fish and stuffed seashells! Come on, don't worry, I'll be fine!" she smiled sweetly again.

Trey showed her a kind smile back, yet full of sadness and small tears in his eyes. He sighed.

"Okay mom, you win. Just…be careful not to faint…out of exhaustion again, alright…?" he advised her.

Sally frowned a little, unnoticed by Trey.

"Don't worry, Trey. Now, would you mind handing me those seashells?" she asked him.

"Okay." said Trey with a slightly happier smile, _"I hope I'm doing the right thing by letting her do things like this… What if something happens to her again, like it did a year ago…?"_ his thoughts asked him.

xxx

The night came unexpectedly quickly, as Sapphire's moon gained its true radiating light-blue color, and Trey had just been finishing his dinner, while Sally washed the dishes. Trey finished eating his meal and took the plate to wash it. He walked up to the kitchen sink and stood next to Sally.

"Let me do the dishes, mom. You should go rest." he advised his mother.

Sally shook her head.

"It's okay, I can do it myself." she said confidently, yet kindly.

Trey frowned.

"…Okay, I know you told me that you're feeling better and all," he raised his voice a bit, "but please don't be overacting now! I don't want you to have another accident like the one you had a year ago! Please…let me do the dishes… You go rest." he kindly advised her.

Sally sighed as she put the plate she was washing back in the kitchen sink.

"Trey…I know you're doing your best to help me fully recover, but I'm feeling better by the day, and if I'm just gonna lay in bed every day, not doing anything, waiting for a miraculous recovery, I'll get sicker like that more than I'm sick right now! I can't let you do everything around here, you know… You'd get exhausted from all this work! And there is no way I'm gonna let that happen. I'd rather die of this sickness than watch you get sick yourself! Now please…don't worry anymore, and just let me help you around here, Trey… Trust me, it'll be okay…"

Trey frowned even more and exhaled slightly through his nose.

"Are you sure…? I just… I just don't wanna lose you too like I lost dad…!" he lowered his head quickly, feeling a sudden wave of sadness washing over him, and he squeezed his teeth together, water forming up around his eyes.

Sally gasped in surprise, widening her eyes, as she saw what Trey was feeling and couldn't take it.

"…I…" she started talking, but felt like Trey's sorrow was too much for her.

Her legs started shaking a little, and she started falling slowly out of painful sorrow and overtaking wooziness, when Trey noticed her leaning back and rushed forward, catching her. He widened his eyes in surprise.

"Are you okay, mom? What's wrong?" he shouted in confusion.

Sally blinked slowly, leaving her eyes opened just a little, and smiled slightly.

"It's…nothing. Nothing at all." she answered him, slowly regaining her full consciousness.

She got up from Trey's hands and, still feeling a bit dizzy, held the nearest table chair, leaning on it and trembling slightly. Trey noticed all of her actions and frowned again.

"That's it, I've had it. Go rest, I'll finish the dishes and everything else." he told her angrily.

Sally slowly shook her head, forcing herself not to tremble, as she leaned away from the chair she was holding and sighed lengthily.

"No…I will. I'll be fine. It's just that…" she closed her eyes and lowered her head, a serious face, then turned around to face Trey, "Whenever I think of you and…your father," Trey's face showed a sad surprise as Sally talked, "I…remember what happened then. That horrible accident… I just…can't get it out of my mind… I…want to forget it, but…I just can't…"

Trey frowned harder, and Sally got frozen in thoughts for a short moment, but recovered quickly.

"…But it's okay, Trey. There's no need to worry, I'll be okay. Now go rest, I'll rest too after I finish around here." she assured Trey, as her fake smile came back.

Trey narrowed his eyes a little, and made a long hum.

"Well…okay then, if you say so…" he lied, but couldn't help it, as he wanted to believe it was the right way even though he wasn't sure of it, "Just…be careful, okay?" he asked Sally, wanting to make sure she truly agreed, his pure kindness showing again.

Sally made a weak smile.

"Don't worry. Just go." she told him.

Trey closed his eyes, frowned hardly again, and turned his head sideways, then went hastily outside the kitchen and up the stairs to his room. Sally sat on the table chair, closed her eyes and frowned as well, a tear sliding down her cheek.

_"Why, Chris…? Why did you have to… Ohhh…"_ her deep thoughts saddened her.

She then gazed out the window at the Moon, frowning again.

Trey lay into his bed and turned towards the window, looking at the Moon, frowning, then he closed his eyes to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2 The Calling

**Chapter 2**

"The Calling"

Trey fell asleep earlier that night, as he found himself at his father's research facility, in the room with the central processor orb of the Twilight Moon, where his father had also been working. He looked at the orb. It was the size of a human, glowing a crystal-clear white shine around it. It was placed at the very center of the room, in mid-air, connected to the walls with thin white tubes that were transmitting energy from the orb to every other part of the facility with immense power, and vice-versa.

Trey looked around him. Giant computers were placed everywhere around the orb, aside the walls, with scientists at each one of them, and the screens were showing different kinds of structures of the Moon. At one of the computers, Trey saw his father. He frowned a bit in wonder.

"Dad…? Is that…you…? Dad!" he yelled, and started running towards his father, a wide smile and tears in his eyes, but just as he was getting closer to him, the ground started shaking, and the orb started glowing a faint red light around it on and off, slowly turning completely black.

Trey turned around towards the orb and a blinding white light started surrounding the whole room from it. He quickly covered his eyes in fear, and when he uncovered them again, the room was completely destroyed. He turned around to where his father had been standing before, and nothing was there except for a melted and destroyed computer. Trey then turned back towards the place where the orb had been, when he saw something shining on the floor at that spot. Just as he was going to approach the light to see what it is, he woke up from his nightmare, terrified. He put his hand on his forehead, closed his eyes and frowned.

_"…It's that dream again…"_ he thought, as he'd been having the same nightmare for a few days, _"But what does it mean…? And that light on the floor… What…was that…? …I definitely don't think I'm having this dream for no reason. There's something at that facility, and I'm gonna find out what it is."_ his determined mind told him, yet he remembered it wouldn't be smart for him to go alone, and he frowned in confusion, but sighed as he realized who he'll have to face in order to avoid unnecessary trouble at the facility.

"I hope Max's gonna help me…" he said unsurely, getting out of bed and out of his room, then down the stairs to the front door.

His mother was cleaning in the living room. Trey reached for the door, but noticed Sally and thought about her for a moment, whether she'll be alright if he went away even for the shortest amount of time. But he remembered what she told him the previous night. She said she didn't need his help that much anymore. He breathed in and out slightly through his nose, frowning with sadness.

"Mom, I'll be back pretty soon. I've just gotta go…" he stopped for a moment, picking his brain for an explanation he didn't want to give, as Sally stopped cleaning and faced Trey with a slightly concerned look, "…do something." he finished his sentence after a brief pause, earning a small smile from Sally, "Are you…sure you'll be okay…?" he asked her with concern yet again.

"Of course, Trey. I'm feeling better now. Go ahead, I'll be fine." his mother gave him the answer he was unsure of being true.

"…Okay then… Take care…"

"You too, Trey."

She showed a sweet smile to Trey, to which he replied with a kind one, going out of the house.

"…Right. …She'll be okay…I know it…" he whispered to himself with a confident smile, "Now let's hope Max's up for a little walk…"

xxx

Meanwhile, Max's grandpa had been putting something inside a treasure chest in the living room as Trey knocked and entered the Cross household. He closed the treasure chest and slowly turned his head towards Trey.

"Ah, Trey." he said as he stood up, clinging to his wooden cane, "You must be looking for Max. He went to the beach a couple of minutes ago."

"Okay, thanks!" Trey nodded in reply and exited the house, running towards the beach, as Max's grandpa looked at a small pile of sand on the living room table, showing a sweet smile while chuckling quietly.

Max was putting sand from the beach into a big bucket, not far away from Trey's house.

"Max!" Trey yelled from afar, running towards him.

Max stood up and waved to Trey.

"Hey, since when do you sleep so long?" Max asked him when he got closer, "It's already past noon! You're usually already at the beach by 8 in the morning! You've been somewhere out there these days, y'know that?"

"Sorry, but I had that dream again… The one…about dad… But…there was something else in it this time… Some kind of…light on the floor… …I have to know what that was, so I'm going to dad's research facility to see for myself. There must be something there, otherwise I don't think I'd just have that dream haunting me like that for no reason… I haven't actually dreamt ever since…you know what happened…" he lowered his head in a sad frown as Max turned his head away uncomfortably, "So…I wanted to ask you if you'd come with me, 'cause I think I'll need help getting inside the facility…" Trey continued as Max simply raised an eyebrow to his friend's request, "…I'm pretty sure it's crowded with guards around the entrance now… And it's not that far… So, errr…whaddaya say?"

He slowly cracked a sarcastic and a bit scared grin.

"…Well if there are guards surrounding the entrance that could kick our butts if we went near the place, do you really need to hear my answer?" Max protested.

"Ohhh, I knew you'd say something like that… Come on, Max, I'm sure it'll be okay! I can't do it by myself, and I've got no one else to ask, so please, help me solve this thing already! And also, if I don't end this stupid dream right now, I'm gonna blame you for not helping me, y'know? So come on, pleeeeease!"

Max was just looking at Trey with a serious and angry look, while Trey cracked another sarcastic grin, hoping to make Max reconsider somehow, his hands put together in front of his face in a pleading way, when Max finally sighed.

"Fine… We'll go… But you know, if we get caught by the guards, I'm getting the heck outta there, and you plan what you're gonna say to them in your defense!"

Trey looked at Max with a scared face, his mouth slightly opened in a frightened shivering smile and eyes opened wide.

"Kidding! Kidding." Max swiftly changed his angered mood, "…To my regret, but I'm kidding!" he showed a sarcastic smile, "Okay, we'll go, but I've gotta get grandpa this sand he asked for, then we can set off."

Trey's scared smile slowly turned into a big and pleased one, spread wide across his cheeks.

"Okay, thank you! …But…what's he gonna do with that sand, cook it for lunch?"

"I don't know and I don't care," he answered, shaking his head, "'cause I'm sure that it'd just be a discovery worth a good ol' doze-off…" he said sarcastically, "C'mon, let's go."

xxx

Trey and Max entered Max's house and left the bucket filled with sand to the top on the living room table, while Max's grandpa was looking at the clear-blue sky through the window right next to them, his back bent forward a little of oldness and one hand on it, supporting his body by holding his wooden cane by its top with his other hand.

Max sighed.

"Okay grandpa, here's your sand. I honestly haven't a clue what you do with this stuff, but I believe that I wouldn't wanna know… Anyway, I need to go take care of something with Trey… Is that okay?"

"Oh, of course. Just be sure not to be long, I still have some chores left for you…" said Alex, Max's grandpa, and made a joking chuckle.

"Oh sure, grandpa. Then I know I'm not gonna be back anytime soon…" Max rolled his eyes sarcastically, followed by a big sarcastic smile.

"…And Trey, don't worry about your mother, I'll watch out for her. You just go on ahead."

Trey was staring at the floor in a deep thought with a questioning face before he raised his head hastily towards Alex after he heard him address him, a bit surprised.

"Oh…thank you, sir…" he answered him, still half-drowning in his thoughts.

Alex showed a sweet smile to both of them as they walked out of the house. He approached the sand bucket on the table, stretched out his hand only halfway with his palm facing upwards, and a bright, round, white light shone in his hand before a big crystal ball appeared in it, as he showed another sweet smile, chuckling softly.

"Good luck, Max… I'm sure you'll need it…" he said.

"…Okay, let's go north from here, and after…about half an hour, we should see dad's old research facility." Trey instructed Max outside the house, and Max nodded, "…I wonder what it looks like now… After all, I haven't been there for…3 years…"

Trey closed his eyes and frowned hardly.

"…Hey hey hey, none of that now!" Max jumped, seeing Trey slowly enter a crying state, "…C'mon, you have to be strong already! Your dad died, I know, but there's nothing you can do about it, what happened, happened. Life goes on, and if you keep dwelling on your past, then where will you get your strength from to take care of your mom, huh? You can't watch over her if you get weaker than she is, Trey! Now please, forget about the accident from 3 years ago already, and keep thinking about what's waiting for you if you keep being like this!"

Trey turned his head towards Max, stared at him sadly for a second, then turned his head towards the ground, closing his eyes with an even sadder look on his face.

"…Y…You're right… I'm… I'm sorry, I'll try to be stronger…"

Max slowly put on a sad face himself.

"Well I'm sorry too… I just had to snap you out of it somehow…" he apologized.

"It's okay… You were right…" Trey answered back, shaking his head a couple of times, then frowned hardly again, as he suddenly changed the expression on his face to frowning along with a smile, looking towards the sky, tightening the grip on his hand he previously placed in front of his face.

"…Right! I'm done whimpering and crying! I've gotta become stronger to protect mom!"

He then faced Max again, showing a smile.

"Thanks, Max. You're a true friend."

Max smiled again and rubbed the spacing between his mouth and his nose gently with his finger, one eye closed.

"Eeeh, 'twas nothin'! …Just don't make me say anything stupid like that ever again, will ya?"

Max showed a big, sweet grin to Trey while chuckling silently, then both of them started laughing loudly together.

"…Okay, let's go. The sooner we finish this, the sooner I can go back and take care of mom again. …Come on!" said Trey, starting to walk away from Max.

"Yeah, yeah… Just pray that we don't get into trouble, or there'll be nothing left of you to do that…" replied Max sarcastically, slowly following Trey.


	3. Chapter 3 GLO

**Chapter 3**

"G.L.O."

After a long walk through the grassy Maruvel Plains that separate the research facility from the Lassa oceanside, Trey and Max finally saw the peak of the facility through a small clearing of thick trees that surround it. Trey stopped walking, carrying a happy look, and placed his hands on his hips.

"…Okay, this is it. …Wow, it hasn't changed a bit from the outside… …We're here, Max!"

He turned around to see Max running slowly behind him with his whole body bent towards the ground from exhaustion, panting, as he then stopped and dropped down to the ground.

"*pant* You…*pant*…are so…*pant*…dead…*pant*…when we…*pant*…get back home…!" Max protested.

Trey made a sweet smile followed by a chuckle, then said: "Come on, don't tell me you're exhausted! You're out of condition, buddy!"

Max stood up.

"What the heck are you hurrying up for?" he yelled, "The facility isn't gonna grow a pair of legs and walk away, that's for sure! I'm almost surprised you didn't RUN all the way here! You do realize you're NOT the only one forced to drag his butt over here, do you?"

He made a long sigh.

"…Are you done?" Trey asked, "After all, we got here, so you can't actually complain. …Now then, the entrance to the facility should be somewhere on this side. Let's take a look. …And be careful, since I'm quite positive guards are swarming the place now."

Trey started walking towards the trees that surround the facility, when Max slowly started walking behind him.

"…Uuurgh! …And all I had to do is say that I don't wanna go… Max, you idiot!" he whispered to himself as he walked in exhaustion.

Trey and Max carefully pulled out their heads through a row of huge bushes between the trees, and saw the entrance to the facility guarded by five guards, two on each side of the entrance and one right in front of the door. They were wearing white police uniforms with white visors covering only their eyes completely, and they were all armed with black laser-sight rifles in their hands, while a sword was leaning against each of the officers' left thigh in a black plastic sword-holder.

Trey narrowed his eyes in suspicion, noticing a big red sign, like of an organization on the guards' uniforms that had the letters **G.L.O.** written in it.

_"__**G.L.O.**__…?"_ he thought, _"They sound familiar… Who are they…?"_

"…What now, brainiac? …Should we go dress up as girl scouts and offer them cookies?" Max suddenly asked sarcastically.

"I'm thinkin', I'm thinkin'… Hey yeah! You could distract them!"

Max turned his head slowly towards Trey again, a furious look.

"…Are you CRAZY? THERE'S NO WAY! …Oh wait, I see. You want them to kill me, right? Some **best friend **you turn out to be! Besides, what the heck am I supposed to do, play dead in front of them?"

Trey sighed.

"Will you take it easy? You'll be fine, just go…I dunno, act like you broke your leg or something, say you were attacked by a wild animal…you'll figure it out! I'll sneak up from the right side of the entrance and get in. …Ready? Just be sure to sound convincing, okay?"

He started sneaking to the right side of the bushes, leaving Max behind who was looking at him with a scared face and an opened mouth, blinking a couple of times. Trey stopped not that far away from Max, showing him thumbs up to approve that everything's ready. Max gulped nervously, still with a scared look on his face as he turned his head towards the guards.

_"...Okay... You can do this Max, ol' boy…"_ he encouraged himself in his thoughts, _"No pressure. Not at all. …Then…here goes nothing...!"_

He changed his scared look to a serious frown, waited for a second, then jumped out of the bush, holding his right knee with his hand, limping.

"Help!" he yelled, "Someone help me! I've been attacked by a wild boar!"

The four guards from both sides of the entrance gasped loudly in surprise, their mouths left opened wide, as they started running towards Max all together, and the fifth guard that was standing at the very door gasped as well, but just made a few steps forward, not enough for Trey to get past him.

"…Oh great," Trey whispered to himself, "only four of them fell for it completely. What now…?"

He stood up from the bush, sneaking quickly and quietly to the facility wall, then stood against the wall and slowly started creeping along it to reach the entrance. He stopped and looked at Max who was bending with…imaginary pain down on the ground, while Max was sending him face expressions of a failed attempt to trick the guards. Trey looked at the guard at the entrance, crouched, and started sneaking slowly towards him. When he got right next to him, he stood up and tapped him slightly three times on the shoulder. The guard turned his head towards him, and Trey punched him in the face the hardest he could punch, then quickly sneaked inside the facility. Max, who was still yowling and bending down on the ground, made a wide smile after seeing Trey finally entered the building successfully, but quickly changed the smile on his face as he remembered the guards were still around him.

xxx

Trey walked through a giant hallway with nothing but machinery and pipes decorating the walls that were glowing faint white and red lights on and off, as if they were turned on and functional, as thoughts came over Trey again.

_"Wow… This place hasn't changed a bit… Everything looks exactly the same like…3 years ago…"_

He stopped walking and slowly started crying again, a sad look on his face and teeth showing, but suddenly frowned hardly with his eyes closed.

"…No. I won't cry anymore. Max's right. I have to stay strong to protect mom… She's all I have left, after all… …Okay! Let's see what's on the other side of this hallway."

He got in front of a giant door at the end of the hallway on which giant red letters **G.L.O.** were written on, exactly like on the uniforms of the officers guarding the entrance to the facility. Trey hummed.

"…**G.L.O.** again… I guess this place belongs to those guys now…"

He started reaching for the doorknob with his hand, but suddenly gasped in surprise and closed his eyes quickly, as flashback images of his dream oozed into his head. He saw his father, the central processor orb of the Twilight Moon, the giant explosion of the facility, and the Moon itself. The flashbacks ended, and Trey opened his eyes hastily, feeling dizzy as he stepped a few small steps back.

"Whoa!" he whispered to himself, "What was that? The flashbacks from my dream? Why'd they show up? …I think this is definitely the place from my dream…"

He tried to open the giant door, only to find it locked tight.

"Oh great!" exclaimed Trey, when his glance accidentally fell to the bottom left corner of the door, where he noticed a tiny, thin piece of metal sticking out of a small hole in the wall. He pulled the piece of metal out and tried to pick the lock on the door with it. The door clicked and unlocked. Trey took a deep breath and sighed it out, reaching for the doorknob again and opened the door. He entered the room and closed the door behind him, throwing away the thin piece of metal he used to pick the lock. The room was the same one from his dream, the one where the central processor orb of the Twilight Moon was in, and where his father was also working. Inside the room were a couple of giant brand-new shut-down computers aside every wall, and at the spot where the orb was supposed to be was just a silver, metal circular pedestal just as high as Trey's knees, with nothing on top of it. Trey stopped to take a good look around the giant room, when he heard faint panting coming from the hallway. He quickly ran into a clearing between two computers aside the wall and crouched to avoid being seen. The panting got louder and the door started opening, when Max ran inside the room, closing the door shut behind him. Trey stood up and sighed loudly.

"…Max, what're you doing here?" he shouted quietly, "I thought I was gonna get caught by a guard! …Did you at least distract them?"

Max panted a couple of more times, then made a long sigh.

"You're gonna pay me BIG TIME when we get back home!" he shouted back to Trey, "I barely got away from all FOUR of them if it weren't for your **knockout match** on that guy! …Nice work, by the way. …So are we ready to go yet, 'cause I'm not sure if I wanna have another chat with those guys if they come running here anytime soon…!"

Trey hummed, looking troubled.

"…I'm not sure," he answered, "let's take another look around the room, just in case we find something…"

He started walking around the room and looking around, hoping to find something suspicious, when Max started doing the same.

"…But what are we even looking for…?" Max asked.

"Anything that looks suspicious, that doesn't look like it belongs in this place, possibly something shiny…"

Max stopped walking behind the circular pedestal in the middle of the room, eyes set on the bottom of it with a troubled look.

"Ummm… Maybe something like…that…?" he asked, pointing towards a shiny light-blue piece of metal shaped like a four-angled polygon that looked like glass, carved into the very bottom of the pedestal.

Trey quickly walked next to Max, looking at the piece of metal.

"…Probably… What is that…?" Trey asked with a confused face, then walked back to the door and picked up the small piece of metal he used to break into the room, using it to separate the light-blue metal from the pedestal.

He took it in his hand, when both he and Max heard loud yelling outside the room.

"Hurry! They're in the research room!" guards shouted outside the room.

"…Uh-oh. I think that guy you knocked out woke up again. You should've punched him harder!" yelled Max, hitting Trey in his rib with his elbow.

"…Ow! …Stop complaining, what do we do?" Trey asked panically.

Just when the guards were about to get dangerously closer to the room, Trey and Max heard a door open wide, hitting the wall behind them loudly, as they both turned around quickly, startled.

"…Hey I don't remember that door being there!" Trey shouted in surprise.

"Who cares, GO FOR IT!" Max shouted, pulling Trey by his arm and running through the opened door with him, when the door slowly faded away behind them, leaving only a giant computer in its place.

The guards stormed inside the research room, panting and looking around, when the one Trey knocked out held his head in pain.

"…How aren't they here? This corridor leads only to this room!" he shouted in rage, "…Urgh, that guy that knocked me out's gonna pay when I get my hands on him… …Come on, let's go take a look around the east sector."

Trey and Max ran behind the third corner they came across, slowly stopping while panting and putting their hands on their knees, bending their whole bodies and heads to the ground.

"…Oh man, WHAT HAVE YOU GOT US INTO? I'd bet those guys would have our heads if we didn't get out of there in time!" Max protested.

"…Okay, okay, I was wrong. I didn't think it'd get this serious." Trey interrupted Max, "…But we found this, didn't we?" he raised his hand with the blue piece of metal in it, showing it to Max, "This must mean something!"

"…Yeah… I guess so… But…how the heck DID that door just show up behind us if it wasn't there before…?" Max asked and frowned, a curious look on his face.

"I really have no idea… …But…let's just go back home for now, okay? I'm starting to get worried about mom…" Trey answered, turning around towards the end of the hallway they were in, when he noticed something going around the corner that looked like long, straight, darker-brown hair, as he started staring at the corner, mouth opened a little and eyes opened wide.

"Well I guess you're right…" Max started talking, walking next to Trey slowly, "I think I've had too much adventure I can stand for one day, thank you very much. But unfortunately, there's just no way it's gonna leave my head anytime soon, or for that, EVER, if you ask me, and it's all your fault, buddy! So what do you have to say for yourself?"

He turned his head towards Trey with a wide smile, only to see Trey staring at the corner at the end of the hallway, completely frozen. Max slowly started changing his smile to a serious, worried look, then turned his head to see what Trey was staring at, as he waved in front of his face with his hand.

"…Hello…? This thing on? …Trey?"

"I… I just… I just saw a woman's hair going around the corner!" Trey replied, pointing towards the corner, still frightened, "Wh…Why the heck would a woman be here…? …Am I…nuts?"

Max looked at the corner again, then back at Trey.

"I certainly hope you are. Just please tell me it WASN'T a guard you saw after all? 'Cause if it was, say your last words to me while you still can. I'll say mine: Praaaaay that I don't run into you in heaven, 'cause you won't cross over to your next life if I do!"

"No it wasn't a guard! I'm telling you, I saw a woman's hair! Long, straight, darker-brown hair! …Come on, we've gotta see what that was!" Trey interrupted him, starting to run towards the corner, with Max right behind him.

They both ran behind the corner and looked at the far corner at the other side of the hallway, when both of them saw a small part of a girl's profile going around it with her hair flying behind her. Trey and Max both opened their mouths wide in surprise and left them opened, then slowly turned their heads to face each other at the same time.

"Whoa. Guess you aren't nuts after all…" Max said.

"W…What's a girl doing in a place like this…?"

"Hey, do you think she opened that door for us?" Max asked, as Trey turned his head to the corner at the end of the hallway again.

"Hey! Wait a second!" he yelled and started running to that corner as Max did the same. They turned right around it and stopped, seeing a bright white light at the end of the hallway, like that of an exit door's. They continued running through that light and ended up outside the research facility, on the other side of it. Trey and Max stopped running while panting and took a look around, hoping to see the girl somewhere, and when they turned around to where they came out of the facility, the door they went through wasn't there anymore, just a clear, grey, metal wall. Both of them just stood there, still panting, looking at the spot where the door was before, when Max suddenly raised both of his hands into the air in wonder, shaking his head hastily with a confused face, then slapped his hands down on his thighs.

"I don't get it. I just don't get it. WHAT the heck's goin' on here? If it's not mine, whose STUPID joke is this?" Max shouted in anger.

"You know what, I've had it with this place. Let's just go home already. This is getting out of control and I don't like it. I'm getting really worried about mom, too."

Max nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, you're right. Grandpa must have dozed off while watching out for her too. Let's go."

Max started walking away from the facility and Trey started doing the same, but stopped after a few steps and took another last look at the facility, frowned, then lowered his head a little and closed his eyes, as he started walking away from the facility, following Max.


	4. Chapter 4 Lost

**Chapter 4**

"Lost"

When the two of them got back to the Lassa oceanside and stood in front of Max's house, Max sighed, looking at the Twilight Moon that glowed a light-red glow around it in the red sky, as if it was letting them know the day will soon end.

"Wow. It's already near nightfall. How long did we even stay at that little **tour of the facility** of ours?" Max asked as he raised his hands and placed them behind his head, supporting it with them, sight still set on the Moon.

Trey raised his hand with the blue piece of metal they found at the facility in it, staring at it.

"What is this thing exactly? Was this what I saw in my dream? …And…who was that girl we saw at the facility? And who exactly were those **G.L.O.** guys…? I don't think they're ordinary guards…" Trey thought out loud.

Max looked at him.

"Trust me, you don't wanna know. Try to forget it. I know I will." he tried to shake Trey out of his thoughts, and placed his hand on Trey's shoulder, tapped it twice, then walked away to his house and tried to open the door, only to find it locked.

"Oh great, grandpa locked it. Who's he afraid of, thieves? Where the heck would they come from, below the ocean?"

"He's probably at my house. Come on, let's go!" Trey said, walking away to his house, with Max following behind him.

Trey entered the house, a big smile on his face.

"Mom, I'm home!" he shouted happily.

Alex was kneeling next to the fireplace in the living room, his back turned to Trey, and the moment he heard Trey come in, he started turning his head towards him slowly with a sad and dead-serious look.

"…Trey… I… I'm sorry…" he said quietly.

Trey's smiling and happy face slowly started changing into a serious and confused look.

"W…Why? What's…going on…?"

He looked at the object Alex was kneeling in front of, only to see his mother, Sally, lying down in front of him, barely moving or breathing.

"…M…mom…? MOM!"

He ran towards Sally, kneeled in front of her and started crying, then placed his hands under her head, lifting it from the ground a little.

"Mom, what happened? Are you okay? Mom!" he shouted.

Sally was trying to catch her breath very slowly, while Alex slowly stood up, supporting his body with his cane and stepping back just a bit, Max walking slowly towards him and standing next to him, a serious frown as tears were shining in his eyes. Alex closed his eyes and frowned a little with a serious look.

"I went out to the beach to get some sand, and…when I came back…I found her like this… I'm…very sorry, Trey… There's…nothing we can do for her now…" Alex explained, then turned his head sideways, frowning even harder, eyes still closed.

_"…How could he gain so much power to do something like this…?"_ Alex thought.

"Oooh… T…Trey…" Sally suddenly started talking.

"Mom? What happened…?" Trey asked, a tear sliding down his cheek.

Sally slowly turned her head towards Trey, barely keeping her eyes open, and cracked a weak smile to him.

"Trey… Don't…worry about…me… I'll be…fine…as always…"

As she said that, she suddenly turned her head back a little and frowned in pain for a second.

"Don't pretend to be strong now, mom! I can see very well you're barely breathing!" Trey raised his voice, "What happened? What's wrong? …Don't you dare leave me now!"

Sally started catching her breath slowly again, as Trey squeezed his teeth hardly in worry, tears flowing harder from his eyes.

"Y…You're right…Trey… I…I think…I…won't get up…from this…" Sally struggled to say.

Trey frowned hardly with his eyes closed and quickly turned his head sideways.

"No… No… Don't say that, please… Don't say that!"

"Trey… I…want to…thank you for…taking care of me…for these past…3 years… Both you…and Max…took care of me…for such a long time…and I could never…find a way…to repay you… You've made me…so…happy… Ever since…your father died…all I could think of…was that horrible accident…and why…would such a thing…even happen… But while you were…taking care of me…the memory of that…fateful day…slowly drained away with…your kind heart, Trey… But now… Now I'll…finally be able to…see Chris again…after such a long time…"

"No, no, NO! You can't! You can't leave me too, mom!" Trey yelled before he started to weep loudly.

Sally slowly turned her head sideways, closing her eyes, a tear sliding down her cheek, then opened her eyes again and slowly turned her head back to Trey, again struggling to talk.

"I'm sorry Trey… You'll be fine…on your own… Don't worry… You have Max with you… He's a true friend…Trey… Never fight… You must stay together…to prevail every obstacle… …Trey…I…"

She suddenly stopped, as she made an intense frown, feeling like something was stabbing her from the inside, then quickly jerked her whole body forward a little, and back into Trey's hands under her head again. She started breathing very hardly, as if someone was choking her, but she still tried to talk.

"…I… I must…te…tell you…s…something…Trey... Fr... Frie… Friendship…m…must be…kept…p…precious to you… A… Alw… Always…re…remember that… Y… Y… Yo…he…hea… C… Chris… Ohhh…"

She stopped breathing completely and Trey could feel her head being heavier than when she was trying to keep her consciousness a moment ago. Her eyes were completely shut while her head was slowly turning over to the side, faster and faster, until it stopped before falling off of Trey's hands. Trey completely froze, his mouth opened just a little while huge chunks of tears twinkled in his eyes, when he narrowed his eyes a bit and squeezed his teeth a little, as he slowly bent down his head completely, his tears smashing onto Sally's incapacitated cheeks. Max was completely frozen too, standing a few steps behind Trey, nothing but sad and in pain, as tears glittered in his eyes. Now he knew what it felt like to lose a loved one, as he never knew his parents at all, so he couldn't actually even consider them as loved ones. He turned his head sideways with his eyes closed, carrying a frown and gripping his fists, while a tear slid down his cheek. Alex turned his head sideways as well, closed his eyes and frowned very hardly.

_"It's him… I'm sure of it… No one else could have done that to her… But…how…?"_ he thought, then looked at Trey who was still frozen in sadness, anger, wonder, and every other bad emotion and feeling that existed, crying silently with his head still held down, _"I think…it's time they met their fates…"_

He then looked towards the ceiling.

_"Chris… I am sorry…"_ he finished his darkened thoughts.

xxx

A week had passed since Trey's mother left the world of the living and he and Max buried her next to his father, behind his house.

It was around noon, and Trey was sitting on the beach of the Lassa oceanside with a deep frown, looking towards the Moon.

_"I don't understand any of this… What's happening…? Why are people dear to me dying…? What happened 3 years ago…? I just…don't understand…"_ his thoughts slowly devoured him, as he lowered his head, closed his eyes and frowned very hardly, squeezing his teeth, as flashbacks of both his mother's and his father's smiling faces went through his head, while a tear was sliding down his cheek. Max came out of his house, making a very quiet sigh through his nose as he started walking towards Trey, sadness clearly visible on his face. He sat next to Trey, looking at him, and made another silent sigh.

"Hey…" he started talking, "Grandpa wants to talk to us about something…"

Trey just sat there, saying nothing, making a serious frown as he was looking across the ocean.

"Look… I'm sorry I yelled at you before for dwelling on your past… But I never knew how it is… To lose a loved one… But…I still have to stand behind what I said… You can't always keep thinking about this or you'll completely lose yourself and become weak… Alone… This happened for a reason. Although no one knows why, it happened for a reason and nothing can be done about it. I know how you feel right now. You just don't wanna live anymore, seeing as you're left completely alone and weak. But you're not alone! I'm with you! And I'm never gonna leave ya, buddy! We've been friends since we were kids and we've been through lots already, and of course we're gonna be through lots from now on too! I actually feel like you're my brother I've never had, not just a friend! So listen to me… Stop being so sad, 'cause you're not alone unless you want to be, then I guess I wasted my breath right now saying all that stupid stuff…! …Got it?"

Max gave Trey a kind smile as Trey turned his head towards him, giving him a kind smile back.

"Thanks, Max… I'll…try to be stronger…"

Max sighed.

"Okay. Somehow I managed to spill that out… I'm not good with things like that at all. Y'know I had to say SOMETHING to make you at least a little bit happier…" he rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out, making a sweet smile, chuckling quietly, as Trey gave him a sweet smile back, chuckling quietly as well, then started laughing louder, Max doing the same after him.

"So! Glad I finally managed to break your sadness!" Max laughed, "Now shall we go hear grandpa out?"

He got up quickly, giving Trey a hand to help lift him up from the ground.

"Lead the way." Trey answered.

The two of them walked up to the front of Max's house as Max opened the door, and they saw his grandpa Alex kneeling over the treasure chest in the living room Trey saw him close once he paid a visit, one of his hands inside the chest while the other was holding his cane by the top, supporting his old body. Max and Trey entered the house, Max closing the door.

"Okay grandpa, what's the lecture?" he asked and showed a sarcastic smile as both he and Trey entered the living room, standing near the doorway and looking at Alex.

Alex stood up, clinging onto his cane and turned towards the boys.

"Trey, Max… Come closer."

Trey and Max looked at each other confused as they approached Alex, when he spoke again, his sight falling on the inside of the treasure chest.

"Take its contents. Trey, you take the one on the left and Max the two on the right."

Trey and Max looked inside the treasure chest, only to see three real-steel swords spread out, a longer one on the left and two shorter ones on the right. The longer one on the left had a sky-clear blue blade, with a darker-blue handle and a very dark-blue jewel-like engraving in the handle just below the blade. The two swords on the right side of the treasure chest were slightly shorter than the one on the left, with very light-yellow blades and slightly darker-yellow handles, along with dark-green jewel-like engravings on the handle, exactly like on the blue sword on the left side of the treasure chest. Trey and Max looked at each other, confused even more, their eyes slightly widened and mouths opened just a little, when their sights fell on Alex.

"Grandpa… What's…this…?" Max asked, now a little scared.

Alex lowered his head with his eyes closed, and made a long, faint sigh through his nose.

"They belonged…to your fathers…" he answered them, as Trey and Max widened their eyes even more, when they turned their heads back towards the opened treasure chest next to them, "The blue sword was Chris', while the yellow ones were Elliot's… They used them a very long time ago…"

Trey kneeled in front of the blue sword and picked it up, examining it from the tip of the blade to the bottom of the handle, making quiet astonished gasps, still with a confused look on his face, while Max did the same, literally slowly falling in love with the beautiful and cool-looking yellow swords placed in his hands, making a wide happy smile as he kept examining the swords, not believing he was holding real steel swords in his hands. While Max was being brainwashed by the beautiful swords, Trey wasn't, as he wondered how come it belonged to his father.

"What do you mean…they belonged to our dads…?" he suddenly asked Alex.

Max snapped out of his trance and turned his head towards Alex, now carrying another confused look.

"Yeah, right… What do you mean by that, grandpa? And…how did they even get them…?" he examined the swords yet again, especially distracted by the dark-green jewel-like embeddings sticking out of the swords' handles.

Alex sighed loudly, his eyes closed and head lowered down.

"I think it's time…you got to know…" he said.


	5. Chapter 5 History

**Chapter 5**

"History"

Alex was sitting at the front of the table, his arms placed on it in a fingers-crossed position and his elbows supporting them, holding them just a few breaths away from his mouth as his eyes were closed, and Trey and Max were sitting next to each other on Alex's left, their arms folded on the table, while they carried looks of curiosity. Alex continued talking about the subject he had started.

"…As you already know, this planet has a moon that gives it all the mystical natural riches a planet needs. Air – for the inhabitants of the planet to be able to breathe; water – all the oceans, seas, rivers and alike, giving the planet life; earth – for the inhabitants to be able to walk on; fire – the heat the planet receives from the moon, giving it warmth, and the natural aid to life; lightning – for the energy and electricity of the planet it wouldn't be the same without; light – for illuminating the darkness; but also darkness itself… But that darkness started expanding when the Twilight Moon slowly got corrupted by an evil no one knew what it even was. No one…except for a few people, including myself, who could call the evil demon by its name… Notus… The monster that conquers other planets in the galaxy and feeds on their life force… And as he already conquered countless galaxies, it was time for him to move on…to ours. He saw the planet Sapphire, noticing its exquisite delights of power received from the hallowed moon, as he slowly approached the moon day by day, until taking control of it, causing Sapphire itself to slowly lose its own life in the process, seeing as the two heavenly bodies were connected. Although, the job wasn't easy for him either. In order to completely drain Sapphire of its life and its natural delights, Notus planted mysterious crystals all around the planet, causing each elementary force to lose itself to its corresponded crystal. Unfortunately, even I don't know how he did that while focusing his power on draining the Moon powerless, and where he put the dark crystals on the planet's surface… All I know is that the corrupting began 3 years ago, on the day the research facility Trey's father was working in…suffered great damage in which he lost his life…"

Trey looked down sadly, narrowing his eyes as he used all his willpower not to cry, succeeding, then turning his head back to face Alex now with a serious frown, and nodding a little seeing as Alex looked at him as if telling him to stay strong.

"…But this story isn't taking us back to what happened 3 years ago…but to what happened 18 years ago…" Alex continued, "…18 years ago, the organization that claimed to be the protectors of this planet, with an evil commander on its head, was at its very peak of power. They protected the world from crimes and wars, fighting with justice and honor, but had a few skeletons in their closets nonetheless. Their commander was a power-hungry tyrant that had only one thing set upon his mind – controlling the world. And seeing as no one even realized they were evil, nor dared to face the most powerful organization in the world, the evil commander, Raven, felt as though his dream slowly came true, and he got possessed with desire for more power. He wasn't just satisfied with the people feeling safe around him and his troops, as he started pillaging and burning down small villages, killing all the villagers for fun and amusement of him and his own soldiers… He completely turned into a blood-thirsty demon. …But because he still didn't want to lose the trust in the people of the world as the news spread like wildfire, the same wildfire he brought painfully on the villages, he pretended like it never happened, merely blaming mountain bandits and such minor reasons, assuring the people such tragedies will cease with ease anytime soon. He kept the people fooled and frenzied as the tragedies kept happening, growing rapidly while targets became not only villages, but bigger towns as well, and the people started doubting in the seemingly unmatchable strength and power of the so-called **famous** **G.L.O.** organization, which stood for **The Global Liberation Organization**…indeed!"

Trey suddenly made a silent gasp, widening his eyes a bit after hearing that last sentence. **G.L.O.**… That was the name of the organization those guards at the research facility had written on their uniforms! So they were evil…

Trey felt as though he wanted to interrupt Alex to let him know that he and Max faced the **G.L.O.** soldiers already when they snuck inside the research facility, but he waited for Alex to finish his story after all. Alex sighed quietly.

"…But… Seeing through Raven's evil intents, the Holy Council of Sapphire whose job was to secretly keep the world in balance, started gathering warriors that could stop the organization, since they couldn't interfere in the evil organization's plans themselves. And it just so happened…that your fathers, Chris and Elliot, were one of the six Chosen Ones. The Council gave them magical powers over the elements that the Moon mystically gave Sapphire. Chris got powers that controlled lightning, and Elliot received powers that controlled the earth. In time and after many battles they defeated the evil **G.L.O.** organization, and the people finally found out what had actually been protecting them all that time. But as for Raven, no one knew what happened to him, as he escaped from Sapphire to the unknown, staying hidden for already 18 years, without anyone knowing where he hid. Even I don't know… But all I know…is that history is starting to repeat itself, as Notus is planning the same evil plot that was planned by Raven 18 years ago… To either conquer Sapphire and forever rule over it…or to destroy it completely in a failed attempt… …And of course, Sapphire…is merely only a detour on his mission of conquering the universe…"

Alex kept quiet for a couple of seconds, his eyes closed and elbows still supporting his hands held in fingers-crossed position, and his head facing the table, while Trey and Max were looking at each other, confused and completely shocked by knowing the dark history that followed Sapphire. Alex made another sigh.

"…Trey…Max… History is repeating itself, and only you can stop it…" he said, as Trey and Max quickly turned their heads towards him, "…You…are the next generation of the Warriors of Light…"

Trey and Max slowly turned their heads back to face each other, making long and quiet gasps with shocked faces, as Trey gulped a little.

"Ummm… Sir… I have to tell you something…" he started, "Max and I went to the research facility a week ago…and we saw the **G.L.O.** soldiers stationed at the entrance…"

Alex made a long hum.

"…I knew they weren't completely disrupted… But I didn't know they were actually back…"

"And…also… We found…" Trey started, as he put his hand inside his pocket, taking out the light-blue piece of metal he and Max found at the research facility, "…this… We don't know what it is…"

Alex narrowed his eyes a little, unnoticeably for Trey and Max, then hummed again, reaching towards the piece of metal with his hand and taking it, looking at it as he narrowed his eyes again.

"…You should've informed me of this…"

He looked back at Trey as Trey faced Max with a guilty look.

"We…thought we'd probably only get in trouble…" he said nervously.

Alex sighed.

"…Never mind… You did what you had to do… But…"

He stretched his hand back towards Trey, giving him the piece of metal back as Trey accepted it, looking at it with a frowned face.

"You should hold on to it… Now…there is something I must show you…"

He looked at the small pile of sand that was spread on the table just across Trey and Max, as the two of them turned their heads to it as well.

"Max." Alex then said, and Max turned his head towards him, "…Concentrate on the pile of sand and try to move it with your hand."

Max looked back at the pile of sand, carrying a bit scared frown, then stretched out his hand towards the sand, frowning more and concentrating on it hardly, and after a couple of seconds the pile of sand started creeping slowly towards him. Max showed a wide smile, losing his concentration for a second, as the sand flew in his face, making him spit it out of his mouth and wipe the rest of his face hastily with his hands. Alex made a sweet smile followed by a silent chuckle.

"…You'll learn with practice."

Max looked at him with an angry face, still spitting the sand out of his mouth.

"Yeah. Right."

Alex then looked at Trey, who was carrying a sweet smile and was quietly laughing at Max.

"Trey." Alex said, and Trey stopped laughing and looked at him, nodding while still holding the blue piece of metal in his hand, when Alex looked at it.

"Put that piece of metal down on the table."

Trey did what he was told and looked back at Alex.

"Put your hand above it and concentrate on it very hardly." Alex continued instructing him, "Try to get it…functional."

Trey raised his hand above the piece of metal, closed his eyes, and frowned as he concentrated to make the metal functional. And after a few seconds, a small sky-blue bolt of lightning came out of Trey's hand and went inside the clear-blue piece of metal, coating it with electrical bolts, and small, green, wired circuits like those inside a microchip that were hidden inside it became visible, as they started glowing a light-red glow around them. Trey made a wide happy smile, as Alex made a sweet smile and a soft laugh.

"I believe you two will hold on well."

The light-blue piece of metal glowed red with circuits showing inside it for a couple of seconds, until it stopped functioning again, slowly fading its light out as the circuits became invisible again, the piece of metal regaining its previous look. Trey took it in his hand again, looking at it surprised in what he just did.

"Hold on to it. It'll prove useful to you." Alex said.

Trey put the piece of metal back in his pocket and looked at Alex with a serious frown, then nodded, agreeing with what he said. Alex made another sweet smile and a silent chuckle, but changed the expression on his face to a serious frown as he looked out the window at the Twilight Moon, frowning more.

"Notus is becoming more powerful as we speak. I fear you will need all the help you can get to fight that monster… There are people just like you, people that are the Chosen Ones as well, and hold powers over the elements of nature the same way you do. Seek out these people and persuade them to join you in your mission to destroy the monster Notus…and save the universe… Everyone is counting on you…"

Trey and Max stood up from the table, looking at Alex with serious frowns and small smiles, then both of them nodded in agreement. Alex smiled at them with a serious frown himself, then slowly nodded as well, knowing the world is in good hands. He carefully got up from the table, holding his cane by his side.

"There is someone in the city of Pareena east of the old research facility who is like you. An elemental warrior. Seek out, and persuade this person to join you. …Good luck. …There is nothing more I can tell you right now…"

Trey and Max nodded again, as Alex smiled at them, then gazed out the window at the Moon again, frowning.

xxx

Tomorrow morning, Trey woke up somewhere around 10 o' clock from the loud ring of the doorbell at the front door and after hearing it open, with Max's voice following it.

"Oi, Trey! You up yet? Today we're off to Pareena!"

Trey got up, still sitting in his bed, and stretched along with a yawn, then quickly got dressed while running down the stairs, seeing Max stand before the front door with Alex behind him. Max was wearing a big light-green backpack on his back, holding it by the straps and smiling at Trey who was rubbing his eyes, still half-sleeping. He also had his two swords by his side, in darker-green plastic sword-holders leaning along his thighs, facing back a little. Trey made a groggy smile.

"Hey… …Wait just a sec. Gotta pack up…"

Max put his hands on his hips and made an angry look on his face.

"You still haven't packed up?" he shouted, "Where were you yesterday?"

Trey slowly raised his hands sideways in a way of redemption, shrugging a little and making a guilty grin.

"…Sorry… I didn't think we'd be going this early…"

Max hummed angrily, while Trey was looking at him with another guilty grin.

"…Okay, but hurry up or I'll leave without ya!" Max protested, "…Well…at least I would if you didn't have to go too… …Just hurry up!"

Trey smiled at him and nodded, running up the stairs, as Max sighed.

"It's gonna be a looong adventure…"

Alex made a quiet laugh, as both of them walked out of Trey's house.

xxx

A couple of minutes later, Trey walked out of his house, his hands grasping the straps of the big dark-blue backpack on his back, and he had his sword in a plastic sword-holder held by his left thigh in the same way Max had his swords held, as he ran towards Max who was sitting on the edge of the well in front of his house, a bit troubled look on him. Trey approached him with a big smile.

"…Hey, you all set?"

Max looked at Trey, snapping out of the deep thoughts he was in a moment ago.

"…Yeah."

He stood up and grabbed the straps of the backpack on his back, his face still looking troubled.

"…What's wrong?" asked Trey, his face turning troubled as well, when Max frowned a little.

"It's just that… This all's really weird…" he replied, "Us being some kinda **Warriors of Light** with a mission to save the Moon and the universe… Our dads being former famous heroes… Grandpa knowing all this… And those **G.L.O.** guys that were after our butts too… I don't get it…"

By this time Alex had come out of his house and smiled, seeing Trey and Max talking, and slowly started walking towards them with his cane helping him, overhearing what the boys were talking about in the mean time.

Trey made a long quiet sigh through his nose.

"Yeah… I get ya… I feel the same way… Especially about the part of ours dads being the former Warriors of Light… I wonder how'd they get involved in that…? But I can't believe the other stuff either… I mean I knew magic and things like that existed, of course, seeing the Moon as a perfect example, but…this kind of magic is on a bit…higher level…"

Max sighed, looking towards the Moon as Trey was looking towards the ground, both of them carrying troubled faces. Alex approached them, smiling.

"You know you shouldn't be like that… Of course I don't blame you, but the Warriors of Light should be fearless…" he teased the boys, chuckling quietly, as they quickly faced him, "A harsh fate is awaiting you boys… But whatever you do, you must face it together. Never fight or quarrel, since you only have each other at times like these…"

Trey and Max nodded, smiles on their faces, as Alex chuckled softly again. Trey and Max looked at their own houses one last time, sorrow getting the better of them, yet they carried kind smiles, as they turned around towards the path that led from Max's house to the Maruvel Plains they walked through when they went to the research facility, when Trey started walking along that path, but Max looked at Alex again sadly.

"Good luck to both of you." Alex told them, then noticed Max's saddened look, "…And Max…don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I'm a tough ol' geezer, after all!"

He made a sweet smile, while Max was giving him a kind smile back and a strong hug afterwards, closing his eyes and carrying a frown, as Trey stopped walking and turned his head towards the two of them, showing a kind smile as well.

"Oh, oh. There, there, m'boy…don't worry. You have a very important task before you. …Fulfill it to the end." Alex said, as Max squeezed him tighter, narrowing his closed eyes, with a tear starting to slide slowly down his cheek.

He pulled back from the hug slowly a couple of seconds later, and looked at Alex again, still with a serious frown, as Alex wiped the tear off his cheek.

"Don't cry. Stay strong. …And don't worry about me. …Go now…"

Max gave him another kind smile, grabbing the straps of his backpack again.

"Take care, grandpa…"

He started walking towards Trey, and Trey turned around as well, when Alex suddenly started talking again.

"…And remember…" he started, making the boys turn around again, a bit confused, "If you are ever in grave danger, or desire something very hardly…just put your hearts together and everything will be possible…"

The boys faced each other, unsure of what Alex meant by what he told them, when they faced him again, nodding in agreement with serious frowns and smiles, as Alex slightly nodded them back, watching them walk away slowly towards the grassy plains of Maruvel.

_"I know the universe is in good hands."_ he thought, _"And now…"_

Just as he made that last thought, he turned around and started shining in a bright white light with his whole body, slowly fading into the air, smiling and chuckling quietly.

**End of Episode One**


	6. Chapter 6 Beginning

**Episode Two**

"Destinies Gather"

**Chapter 1**

"Beginning"

She ran through the grass, panting heavily, a feeling of slight malaise slowly enveloping her. She swiftly moved the tall grass away from her path as she finally noticed the metal gate of Pareena in the distance.

"Finally…" she barely gasped it out.

"Hurry! Don't let her reach the city!" she heard a unit of soldiers shout from behind.

She continued running as she turned her head around to look at her pursuers, when she suddenly stopped. She turned around fully and held her necklace up, a bright red light emitting from it, as a bright ray shot from the light, booming below the soldiers' feet, knocking them down.

The light died out and the girl flashed a pleased smile, still panting heavily as she continued running to the city.

"Damn! We need to call the Lieutenant… Hurry!"

xxx

It was somewhere around 2 o' clock in the afternoon that Trey and Max were slowly, but securely reaching the city of Pareena, the place where they were to meet the third Warrior of Light. They were both tired and slowly getting hungry as they haven't rested in their hike to the city. The Moon wasn't showing them any remorse either, as it shined more brightly and warmly this specific afternoon. Plus they were walking through the long and grassy Maruvel Plains to reach the city, so it wouldn't be much of a surprise if they just collapsed on the grass from tiredness, hotness and slight hunger that would soon grow into unbearable starvation if they didn't reach Pareena soon. And seeing as neither of them brought any food with them, thinking they'd eat in Pareena…

"Hey…you holdin' on?" Max asked suddenly, barely panting it out as he slowly walked behind Trey, his body slightly bent down to the ground from exhaustion, whereas Trey was still trying not to show weakness as he walked normally, yet slightly panting as well.

"…Yeah. Still fine." he answered Max's question, "I thought Pareena would be closer than this, y'know… I wonder how much further we have to go…"

He started panting a bit faster and louder as he was straining to say that. Max sighed, slowing down his walking a bit.

"I think we should take a teeny break…" he said, "The world won't get saved if we die here, you know… At least we should rest a little, if nothing else…"

He stopped walking completely as he fell onto his back, his hands behind his head in a leisurely exhausted position. "But I'm sooo huuungryyy… Why did we have to be such idiots not to bring at least a crummy piece of bread to eat? Figures…"

Trey turned around to look at Max who was stretched down on the shallow grass on his back, achingly panting with his eyes closed, as he made a kind smile and sat on the grass with one arm over his knee, slightly panting and looking at the Moon while covering his eyes a little from the strong rays with his other hand. He remembered the story Max's grandpa told the two of them just a day ago as he made a weak smile.

_"We're gonna free you if it's the last thing we do."_ he thought.

Max sat up, looking to the far horizon behind Trey, as he noticed they were only a few feet away from the boundary of the long, seemingly endless waves of grass the Maruvel Plains held. He also noticed that thicker-crowned trees were starting to appear behind the border of the plains, with some kind of small white buildings breaking through the clearings between the trees further beyond. Only one thing occurred to him of what those buildings could stand for, as he crawled closer to Trey, not leaving the small white objects from his sight, as he nudged Trey a little to gain his attention.

"Hey Trey… Are you seein' what I'm seein'? Is that…?"

Trey turned around, looking to where Max had his sight set on, noticing the white objects as well.

"…Pareena…?" he asked, as they both faced each other, laughing happily, knowing that what they're seeing is surely Pareena, and they quickly stood up and started running towards the city they had in their sights, ignoring the fact that they were completely exhausted and hungry as they were having only the thought of reaching the city as soon as possible on their minds.

They ran through the clearings between the now thicker trees beyond the Maruvel Plains, as the image of the small white buildings in the distance became clearer and bigger, and they could plainly see that it was surely Pareena they were running towards. Soon they reached the city gates, and slowed down their running steps, until they completely stopped in front of the very gate of Pareena, panting intensely with their bodies now completely bent down towards the ground as they held their knees with their hands to prevent them from falling down out of total exhaustion. They slowly stopped panting as they raised their heads to see the giant, silver, metal gate in front them, assuring themselves they've reached their primary destination. They faced each other again, smiling, as they pushed the giant gate open to enter the city of Pareena.

…Finally…

The city was pretty enormous, with big white buildings on the left and right side of the path Trey and Max walked along while going deeper inside the city. People were storming the streets, rushing past them, not even noticing that strangers wandered into their city.

As Trey and Max walked along the street, they could hear their stomachs growling and screaming for food, and they started walking slower, with their hands on their bellies, trying to suppress the pain the holes of hunger in their stomachs were bringing them. Suddenly, they noticed a restaurant on the left side of the street, and they immediately showed wide and pleased smiles of finally finding a place to eat as they ran inside it. They ran to the buffet of the small bar at the back, slowing down after reaching it, and started panting.

"Food… Give us… Now… Please…!" Max gasped out to the waiter at the buffet.

The waiter looked at them surprised for a second, then slowly walked to the kitchen at the back of the bar to prepare a meal for the boys. Trey and Max quickly sat on the chairs in front of them, then collapsed on the buffet counter with their heads and hands placed under them, still panting slowly and stomachs still growling. By this time, the people inside the restaurant all stared at the strange, hungry travelers at the buffet, but the boys paid no attention to the staring eyes as the only thing on their minds was food. And after a couple of seemingly-endless minutes, the meals for the hungry travelers were placed in front of their heads, as they immediately started burying their starving faces in the delicious meals that were so kindly offered to them. The waiter stared at them, and so did the rest of the people in the restaurant. But when the boys finished chowing down the food and gasped in satisfaction of their now fully-filled stomachs, they completely forgot they didn't bring any money with them either, and when the waiter told them the meals cost them 60 silver and 20 bronze coins, the boys faced each other with shocked faces, remembering that they don't have any money on them. Just when they started to stutter, trying to say they couldn't pay for the meals, a voice yelled from the restaurant entrance.

"I'll pay these boys' meals!"

The boys quickly turned around, and, seeing Alex, sighed in relief.


	7. Chapter 7 Distress

**Chapter 2**

"Distress"

Later, outside the bar, Alex consulted with the boys, a sweet smile on his face.

"I knew you're still a little green. Lucky for you I came, or you would've worked 'til morning!"

"Th… Thanks, grandpa. But…why are you even here?" Max asked with a troubled look.

"Well… I have some business to take care of with the mayor of Pareena. …And I thought you might need this, after all… I don't think you'd do well without it, so I don't know what made you think you would…"

He reached inside his pocket with his hand, taking out 180 gold, 110 silver, 50 bronze, and 20 sapphire coins, then offering them to Max, leaving him speechless after seeing all that huge amount of money.

"Wow… Where'd you get that much money…?" he asked in confusion.

"Never mind where I got mine, the important thing is where did you lose YOUR money, boys?" Alex asked with a slightly angrier look than the one he had a moment ago.

"Well…we… That is…ummm…errr…" Trey and Max stuttered, then faced each other with scared looks, as Alex brought back the sweet smile on his face and a quiet chuckle.

"…Never mind. I guess I should've waited for you to recover from Sapphire's history a little bit more before sending you out to save it…"

The boys made a quiet sarcastic laugh.

"You should go rent a place to stay. You look very tired… There's an inn just at the end of this street. I have business to take care of in the mean time…"

The boys nodded before starting to walk away towards the inn, slowly disappearing in the crowd that hustled about, leaving Alex who was smiling at them.

_"I think you're still gonna need a lot more help from me, young ones…"_ he thought.

After entering the inn, the boys checked in and paid their lodgings for the night with 90 silver coins, then went to their separate rooms, one across the other in the hall upstairs, as they quickly and tiredly said goodnight to each other, knowing they'd be asleep for good and wouldn't wake up until tomorrow, and went inside their rooms, crashing on the beds, sleeping tight in a matter of only a couple of seconds.

Trey had a dream that night, but not the ones he had before he went to the research facility, yet a short one about the mysterious girl he and Max saw while they were leaving the facility, and the G.L.O. organization. Trey woke up hastily with a surprised and terrified look the next morning, as he sighed heavily.

_"Not again… Those dreams seem to be coming back… But…what's the girl from the facility doing in them now…?"_ he thought, then shook his head, carrying a bit annoyed look, and got up from his bed, walking to the bathroom to wash his face, then quickly dressed while going out of his room towards the inn lobby, still a bit groggy. As he got downstairs to the lobby, he noticed Max sitting on one of the chairs near the entrance, waiting for him to wake up, as he was looking at him with a bit annoyed expression on his face from having to wait for him to come down for so long. Trey flashed a smile and hurried towards Max, as Max stood up.

"Wow, are you really Trey? I mean I know we're both kinda distracted by this whole _Let's save the Moon!_ thing, but even I have limits of sleeping, and you…I have no idea if it really is you anymore, y'know?" he said, showing a sarcastic smile.

"Ha-ha, funny, Max. Hilarious… Anyways, we should be looking for this third _Warrior of Light_ sometime soon, right? …I guess we could start by looking out for suspicious characters hangin' around…" he said, as Max nodded in reply, "Okay, then let's start right after we eat at that restaurant from yesterday. I'm starving!"

They started walking to the door.

"Yeah, I'm with ya on that one! Yesterday I felt like I was in heaven when they gave us that meal! Hey, how 'bout we fake out another starvation again today, huh? You think they might give us a free meal this time if they see we're just some stupid, starving, traveling peasants without any money…?"

"Yeah right… Like we'd be stupid enough to go there without any money again…! Besides, your grandpa gave us the money now so we're certainly not doing anything like that again. Got it?" Trey said as he opened the door of the inn.

"Yeah, yeah, I know that…! But you know that doesn't make it the least bit interesting when we obey the rules…"

He rolled his eyes sarcastically and turned his head towards Trey who was looking at him with an annoyed smile, as Max gave him the same smile back. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, someone bumped into Trey from the back, making him step a couple of quick steps up front.

"Hey! Watch it!" he yelled, then turned towards the person that bumped into him with a slightly angry look, but changed the expression to a surprised and a bit frightened one, as the person he was looking at was a girl that reminded him of the one from the facility a lot, and he just stood there, not saying anything, eyes opened wide, as the girl panted heavily, looking at Trey both surprised and confused, yet also frightened, not saying anything either, then quickly started running behind the corner of a nearby building as fast as she could, catching a glimpse of something behind Trey, quite like something she was obviously running away from.

Trey managed to catch a good look at her too; very dark-red eyes, and long, straight, darker-brown hair reaching to just a little below her back; long, darker-red gloves covering her forearms completely, yet not her hands, only covering the back of her hands in forms of triangular pieces of cloth connected to the gloves; a likewise-colored long dress spread behind her in just a couple of big, unequally-separated, slit strands of cloth, whereas spread in front of her in the form of a short loose skirt reaching just to her knees, slit from the dress at her hips, and the skirt-dress connected to a silk, likewise-colored brassiere from the back; a small necklace in the shape of a darker-red tear around her neck as well, and besides all that, she carried a crimson-colored wooden bow along with a brown cloth bag of arrows around her back. …In other words, she was dressed very strangely, almost as if she was from some kind of royalty on another planet, but her apparent radiant beauty is what made Trey completely speechless, besides the fact that he could also almost swear she was the one who saved him and Max at the research facility.

Trey just stared at the corner the girl ran around for awhile, still stunned by her indescribable beauty, until Max snapped him out of it, a guilt-provoking smile on his face directed at him, nudging him gently with his elbow.

"Heeey…Treeey… I saw the way you were lookin' at her…! You fall in looove…?"

He chuckled through his grin as Trey snapped out of his trance slightly, looking at Max then back at the corner again.

"No wait… I…think that girl was the one we saw at the facility…"

Max slowly shifted his grin to a wondering frown.

"…Huh…? Ya sure…? Maybe it's just these heavy Moon rays gettin' to ya."

"…Where'd she go now?" Max heard a voice shouting from behind them as he turned around quickly, seeing five G.L.O. soldiers frantically looking around just a building away from the boys.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed, taking Trey by surprise in quickly pulling him away from the street with him behind a big stone block jutting out from the building next to them, as they both sat down on the ground.

"…It's those G.L.O. guys again!" Max whispered loudly.

Trey put on a more concerned and scared face now as they both peeked around the giant block to take a look at the G.L.O. soldiers, hoping they didn't come from the facility looking for the two of them, when one of the soldiers stopped looking around and started staring at the corner the girl Trey and Max met earlier went around.

"I think she went that way! Follow me!" he shouted, then started running towards the corner and the others followed him, when the boys quickly leaned back sitting against the wall behind them to avoid being possibly seen by the soldiers, as the G.L.O. soldiers ran around the corner, and the boys stood up, scared looks on their faces, then faced each other slowly.

"They're after that girl…?" Max asked.

"Well what're we waitin' for, we've gotta save her!" Trey exclaimed as he quickly stood up and ran around the corner, Max following right behind him, when they heard the girl scream about two corners away from them.

They followed the source of the scream, when they came across a small alley the girl was cornered into by the soldiers, two of them guarding the pathway. Trey and Max glared at each other and nodded, when Max stretched out his hand towards the ground under the two soldiers, and a second later the earth below them rattled, throwing them aside and clearing the path to the small alley for the boys. They ran to the corner and saw three more soldiers standing in front of the cornered, screaming girl, their rifles pointed at her as they crept closer to her inch by inch.

"Surrender now and give us your heart!" the soldier in the center yelled.

Trey quickly stretched out his hand to the soldiers, resulting in three light-blue bolts of lightning piercing from the ground below them, throwing their rifles into the air and falling behind the two boys. The G.L.O. soldiers turned around surprised, their mouths left open wide as they stared at the boys for a couple of seconds, then, with no hesitation, ran away behind them and back into the streets of Pareena, the two knocked-out soldiers following them as well. The boys watched them run with equally surprised, and angry faces, before they turned back to the cornered girl as she slowly stood up, a look of surprise on her as well, and she panted out a couple of breaths before speaking.

"Th… Thank…you…" she said, before slowly running away to the streets of Pareena as well, neither saying anything else, nor laying an eye on the boys for a second as she disappeared in the bustling crowds on the streets.

Trey and Max looked at each other again, panting sharply, their surprised looks not leaving their faces as Max finally spoke.

"What…the heck was that all about…?" he asked, confusion basically devouring him.

"Ya think I can answer ya?" Trey asked back, "…But… What was all that _Give us your heart!_ part for…?"

Max simply shrugged and shook his head, still panting fast.


	8. Chapter 8 Meeting

**Chapter 3**

"Meeting"

A couple of minutes later, the boys walked along the street to the restaurant they were in the previous day, heads lowered down and stomachs grumbling from hunger. They were completely silent from the event that had just occurred. As they walked along the street past their inn, Max's grandpa hurried out of the inn, yelling the boys' names as they turned around.

"Where were you boys? I came looking for you, but I never thought you'd be the sightseeing types now!" he pointed out, chuckling.

The boys looked at each other.

"Errr… Well, guess there's a first time for everything!" Trey laughed hesitantly, looking back at Max again guiltily, Max giving him the same look back.

Alex shifted his look from Trey to Max suspiciously.

"Well, whatever you boys need to do around here. After all, it is your first time in Pareena…" he pointed out again, "Anyways, have you eaten anything yet?"

He got two nods of disagreement in reply.

"Well then eat up, I'd like to introduce you to someone after breakfast. Come to the City Hall later. It's that large building at the far end of this street." he said, pointing at the building.

Trey and Max looked at each other again, an eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"Okay grandpa… Whatever…" Max said.

Alex just chuckled. "Have a good meal, you two." he said, walking towards the City Hall.

The boys simply shrugged and walked to the restaurant.

xxx

Meanwhile…

"Sir! Report, sir!" a G.L.O. soldier shouted, rushing into the Headquarters of the G.L.O. organization and kneeling down on one leg, head held down.

"…What is it?" the General of the G.L.O. organization asked in his usual cold tone, standing in front of his giant computer screen.

"We've managed to track the fire keeper from the old research facility to the city of Pareena. We also believe that two new _Warriors of Light_ have been found out, sir! One of them is supposedly the keeper of lightning where the other is the keeper of earth. But…the fire keeper managed to escape again, sir! All three of them were last seen in the city of Pareena. What will be our next course of action, sir?" the soldier asked, lowering his head down in await for the General's order.

"Hmmm… Interesting… So they're starting to gather… Excellent. I think it might be the time for the next step…" the General murmured to himself.

"Um…sir?" the soldier asked again.

The General walked up to the computer screen, his long dark-blue cape flying behind him as he started typing something away at the computer keyboard, resulting in giant, dark-green letters _DNA_ covering the whole screen above the General, as the soldier watched all of what he did with curiosity until the letters appeared on the screen, when the soldier threw a more serious face on himself.

"…You were a very useful and hard-working Lieutenant, Chrome…" the General spoke again.

"Um… Th…Thank you, s-sir." Chrome, the G.L.O. organization Lieutenant answered, starting to feel a bit more tensed.

"…And I think now is the time we put all that to a higher level…"

Chrome said nothing as he merely frowned and narrowed his eyes, unsure of what his General's thoughts might be. The giant computer screen showed Chrome's personal data, next to the big letters _DNA_ that were on the screen a moment ago, and the General merely smirked evilly, slowly stretching the smirk into a grin while typing away on the keyboard, as Chrome's confused face switched with a frightened one, and he quickly stood up, stepping a few steps back.

"…G…General Vane! Y-You c-can't be serious…! Please, don't!" Chrome yelled, as the G.L.O. General Vane turned around, his grin ever-so-hellish in the dark General's Quarters, and handcuffs hooked onto metal tubes trapped Chrome around his ankles and wrists, lifting him up into the air as he panicked, panting harshly.

"It was about time…YOU were tested, Chrome… I'm sure our plans would improve greatly with your new DNA structure…" Vane laughed sinisterly, pressing down the _enter_ button on the keyboard, resulting in the letters _DNA_ on the screen glowing green, and a green network of data projected from it out of the computer screen like a movie projected in a cinema, slowly showing a form of a green steel sword in mid-air. Chrome yelled and screamed, knowing now what was coming to him while he was slowly being pulled towards the sword and vice-versa, as Vane laughed evilly again, green 0s and 1s hastily scrolling through his eyes in the forms of computer data.

xxx

"Boy their grub is awesome! I wanna eat at this place all the time from now on!" Max yelled happily with a full stomach, as he and Trey finished their rich breakfast and exited the restaurant, slowly heading for the City Hall where Max's grandpa told them they should go.

"Come on, Mr. Enthusiasm, let's go to the City Hall now." Trey answered sarcastically, "Wonder who we're gonna meet."

"Beats me. …Hey you still wondering who that girl was and what the G.L.O. guys wanted with her?" Max brought the subject suddenly.

"Of course I am. Hope she's okay… I can almost swear she was the one we saw at the facility…"

"Yeah and I can DEFINITELY swear you fell for her the second you saw her, dude!" Max pointed out, nudging Trey with his elbow.

"Err… Yeah, well…she was cute…!" Trey blushed through a shy grin, scratching the back of his head, and Max simply laughed quietly to his actions.

"…Anyways…" Trey changed the subject, "Where do you think the third Warrior of Light might be? We haven't heard anything about him and I'm pretty anxious to meet him, too. Wonder what powers he has, and what's he like… But your grandpa seems to know something about him… Maybe he's the one we're about to meet…?"

"Ahh, who cares! Let's just get this meetin' over with so I can go back to the inn and sleep! I don't think this all's meant for me."

"Typical you…" Trey hummed sarcastically.

"Oh, there you boys are!" Alex called the boys from the main chamber of the City Hall as they entered the building, "Hurry, hurry! He's a busy man."

"Who are we meetin'?" Max asked.

"Someone important." Alex answered as he and the boys headed for the main office of the City Hall.

"Come in!" the gracefully-aged man greeted as Alex entered his office, Trey and Max following, "Are these the boys, Alex?"

"Yes. This is Max." Alex introduced Max as Max nodded his head, "…And this is Trey."

Trey nodded his head as well.

"Pleased to meet you boys. I am the Mayor of this city. Now…I have been informed of your situation involving the Warriors of Light…"

Trey and Max put on a slightly disturbed face as they glanced at each other, then at Alex, who merely chuckled and nodded at the boys' actions, attempting to assure them everything is fine.

"…Do not be alarmed." the Mayor continued, noticing the boys' disturbed actions as well, "We are merely attempting to assist you. We have been informed that a person recently appeared here in Pareena who could be very much described as one of you…a Warrior. Unfortunately there is nothing more we know. However, we have also been informed that this person was supposedly involved in several incidents with the infamous G.L.O. organization… And if the Organization is in our city, then that certainly can't be good. The Organization might even destroy our city if we cross their paths and disturb their mission. …That is why we couldn't tell you more even if we knew. But we do know that somewhere around this morning both the person you are looking for and the G.L.O. soldiers left Pareena, and the person was a girl in red…"

Trey and Max gasped and looked at each other in astonishment.

"We know her." Trey said, looking back at the Mayor, "Max and I met her a little before breakfast. The G.L.O. soldiers were after her! So she's the third Warrior… Then she must be the one that saved us at the facility too."

"…Saved you?" Alex asked.

"Uhh…yeah. We didn't tell you that 'cause we knew you'd most probably scream at us." Max started, a weak, guilty smile popping out on his face, "The G.L.O. guys were after our butts too when we snuck in the facility. We…practically broke a guy's nose while sneaking in…"

Alex sighed and lowered his head, eyes closed, then shook his head.

"I should've figured as much… …But never mind that now, what will we do about the girl? Do you know where she is now?" he asked the Mayor.

"From our latest reports, we believe she was heading towards the village of Kento to the north. As for the G.L.O. soldiers, we do not know." the Mayor answered.

"Then I guess we should go there asap." Trey said.

"Yeah." Max replied to that.

"I think you should go there right now. Finding the girl and persuading her to join you is of great importance, boys. If she is indeed there, you must find her before we lose track of her again. Or before…the G.L.O. find her instead… We're counting on you." Alex told the boys.

"The village of Kento is due north from here, and you should see it after a while, it's not a long walk. Good luck." the Mayor said.

"I'll be here 'til you get back." Alex told the boys as they nodded and started walking to the door of the Mayor's office.

"…And one more thing." Alex spoke again, and Trey and Max turned around, "Are you making sure you're carrying money with you as you go somewhere now?"

Alex smiled sarcastically, as Max put his hands on his hips and showed a sarcastically annoyed face.

"Ha-ha, grandpa. We're not that stupid to make that mistake twi…" Max complained, but stopped as he put his hands in his pockets to look for money, only to find them empty.

He looked at Trey, and saw Trey exploring his pockets already, showing Max a guilty look as if he was in the same predicament. Max simply showed an extremely annoyed and defeated look to Alex, who chuckled triumphantly.

"Okay fine," Max growled, "you win, we're off to the inn first. We'll be back soon." he said, before he and Trey left the Mayor's office.

"Do you think they will succeed in their mission, High Priest? They still seem a little blue…" the Mayor asked Alex.

"They do seem blue at the moment, but I believe they will be fine. …And please, do not call me _High Priest_… I resigned from that spot long ago… Now I'm just a lower priest again." Alex answered.

"Oh, I'm sorry. But how are things in the Council?"

"…Trust me…you don't want to know…"

"…How come?"

"Let's just say…that we must rely solely on the boys at the moment…"


	9. Chapter 9 Lieutenant

**Chapter 4**

"Lieutenant"

"Urgh, I hate it when he's always so smart and all-knowing like that…" Max whined angrily to Trey as they walked out of the inn to the city gates, now with money in their pockets, "I can never win against him!"

"…Hey, what'dya expect? He's a grandpa, after all… And sometimes it looks like he's not even YOUR grandpa, I have to say…" Trey answered as he looked away, holding back a laugh.

"Not funny, Trey!" Max exclaimed, slightly annoyed, "…But forget about grandpa for now, how are we gonna make that girl join us? I mean come on, I don't think we were meant for this thing… Tell me something, Trey. Do you think we'll be okay?"

Trey lowered his head in a slightly concerned look.

"…Let's…not concern ourselves with that now. We'll do what we have to do and give it our best. And even if we don't succeed…at least we'd be doing something good for his world…" he said, and increased his pace.

Max stopped and breathed out through his nose, shaking his head with eyes closed, and ran a little to catch up with Trey as they passed the city gates and started heading north.

After a while, the boys reached their destination. They saw small cottages in the distance through a tiny forest. They stopped and looked at each other.

"Kento?" Max asked.

"We can only hope…" Trey sighed as he continued walking towards the village, Max following.

They passed through the rock fence surrounding the village as they slowly walked around it, thoroughly looking around to find a living soul, seeing as how there was currently no one to be found in the entire village.

"…Where…is everyone…?" Max asked again.

"I have no idea… Maybe we're not in the right place or something… This place looks very dead…" Trey pondered.

The boys heard a loud bump coming out of the nearby cottage. They jumped a bit, and Trey laid his hand on his sword, prepared for what might be waiting for them. A few moments of suspension, and an elderly man slowly came out of the cottage, a fearful look on his face. A second later, many other villagers started peeking out of their own cottages, each with a look as terrified as the elderly man's.

Trey and Max relaxed a bit, though they were extremely confused at the situation in the village. They looked at each other.

xxx

"You're not…G.L.O. soldiers…are you? Please… Don't hurt us…" the elderly man begged the boys as the other people quietly watched from their homes' thresholds.

"What…are you talking about…? What happened to all of you here? And…you know about G.L.O…?" Trey asked a few questions of his own, to which the elderly man acted with surprise.

"So you're…not one of them?" he asked once again.

"No…we are definitely not. In fact we're here because of them. We heard they headed here from Pareena."

The man was completely relieved.

"Thank God…" he turned around, then nodded and smiled at everyone else, to which they replied the same.

"Can you tell us what happened? Why were you all in hiding…?" Trey asked the man.

"It's because of them… We never thought they'd ever be back…"

"The G.L.O.? Yeah we're looking for them… And someone else they might have been after. A…girl in red…?" Max added.

"Girl in red? …She is to blame for the soldiers' invasion… If she hadn't come here, we would've never…!" the man paused as he frowned, and the rest of the villagers all looked at each other with saddened eyes.

The boys looked at each other as well. They knew some incident had obviously happened involving G.L.O. and the girl.

The elderly man regained his composure and continued. "It all started with that girl… She came to the village, obviously exhausted from running away from something. She came to us seeking shelter. She said there wasn't much time and that we had to help her, because the fate of the world was at stake… We were a bit skeptical at first, but we decided to help her out and hide her in one of our cottages, cloaking her as a sick resident. …A grave mistake. And that's…when they came… Not long after. Quite a handful of the G.L.O. soldiers stormed into our village and demanded that we gave the girl up to them. They said they'd leave us alone if we were to hand her over. We refused… The second mistake we made. That's when they got angry and started destroying some of our cottages… And also… Killed…" the man paused and looked away, frowning.

Trey and Max shared concerned looks.

"After we finally gave up on protecting the girl," the man continued, "we told her where she was hiding. Yet, by then, she had already escaped from the village. Quite a splendid performance. Squeeze into our humble little village, seek shelter, cause nothing but despair and leave without even a word of thanks! Honestly, I hope the soldiers get to her and make her suffer just as we did!" the man got angered, and so did the rest of the villagers, the boys noticed. "And who the hell are you? Are you with that girl? Are you also attempting to lure out more G.L.O. soldiers to us and get us all killed? I suggest you leave here at once, before we act instead of the G.L.O." the man warned them, and some of the villagers started raging on the boys' presence.

The two took the hint. They certainly weren't wanted here.

"I… We…" Trey started, not knowing what to say to the village's recent experience, "…Sorry… We'll leave… But…do you happen to know, by any chance, where…"

"The hill up north. She went that way. Now leave. Immediately." the man warned them for the last time.

The boys glanced at each other again, sighing. They hurried through the village, trying to ignore the villagers' angered stares, feeling lucky that's all they did.

xxx

"…That was…" Trey started, once they exited the village, but didn't know how to finish.

"Bull?" Max finished instead.

"I…guess… It's just that… I don't get it. What could the G.L.O. possibly want with that girl which was so important as to make such drastic measures? I can't believe they actually did that… They must be stopped immediately…" Trey protested.

"Good luck with the immediately part. How do you think we're even gonna confront them? We can barely even use our powers, and we're actually chasing them? God… This sucks already." Max complained.

"Relax. We can do it. Your grandpa's counting on us. …In fact…the whole world is…"

"The world can just kiss my…" Max started, but Trey interrupted him by stopping him with his hand.

Max frowned at him confusedly, but Trey pointed at a small hill in the distance, seen through a clearing between some bushes.

"Wait a sec… Is that…" Max started.

"…It's the girl." Trey frowned.

The boys looked a bit harder, and they noticed a whole bunch of G.L.O. soldiers surrounding the hill the girl stood on, slowly sneaking up on her, rifles aiming for her head. She couldn't escape.

"…She's in trouble!" Trey said in slight panic.

"Whoa whoa whoa, Mr. Heroic, do you see the freaking number of those soldiers? We'd be goners in a matter of a nanosecond! How do you suppose…" Max tried to stop Trey, only to be cut off by the other.

"I don't care! She needs our help right now! I can't stand here and watch the person we've been searching for get killed right before our eyes!" Trey pondered and gushed out through the bushes towards the hill to save the girl.

"…I'm gonna kill that guy if the G.L.O. don't." Max shook his head and followed Trey hesitantly.

The girl frowned and gritted her teeth, glancing at all the soldiers surrounding her, when she heard one of them laugh.

"Quite a bit of trouble you caused us, girl…but I'm afraid you have nowhere to run now…" a man walked out of the shadow of a nearby tree, grinning devilishly.

The girl frowned harder, slowly starting to panic.

"I'm surprised you even lasted this long… You also fell off our radars for a while. Causing disturbances all around and using your powers so recklessly… Hahaha… We didn't have that much trouble tracking you." the man slowly crept closer to her, "But now…" he stopped, and put his hand in front of his face, as it slowly dematerialized and a metallic blade formed up in its place.

Trey ran up to the hill just as he saw the man do that, stopping and watching him in astonishment, Max catching up to him and acting the same.

"…It's time you gave us…" the man continued, then gushed directly at the girl, "…YOUR HEART!"

The girl gasped and froze.

"NO!" Trey screamed, lifted his hand up and aimed at the soldier, a lightning bolt zapping him to the ground just as he was about to stab the girl.

The rest of the soldiers swiftly turned around to face the boys, lifting their rifles up to shoot them, just as Max fisted the ground beneath him, causing a huge earthquake to throw the soldiers off balance, making them fall to the ground stunned and their rifles thrown out of their hands. Trey quickly used his lightning powers to draw the rifles towards him with an electric shield, throwing all of them miles away from the soldiers.

"Urgh… What the…" the soldier with the blade arm slowly got up, outraged at his failure. "You meddlesome little…"

"Quick! Run while you can! We'll take care of this guy…" Trey advised the girl, as she looked at him, still in mild fear and shock, then ran towards the other side of the hill.

Trey drew his sword out, pointing it at the soldier. "Didn't your mother teach you not to pick on helpless girls?"

Max joined Trey with his double swords. The soldier growled. He was outnumbered, with his comrades still knocked out on the ground. He took a second to examine the boys.

"Could it be…? Are you the ones…" the soldier smirked, "Hahaha… The general will be pleased to hear this…"

"General…? Just who the hell are you?" Trey asked.

"What? You've never heard of the great G.L.O. Lieutenant, Chrome? Still so green and new at this, Warriors!"

The boys frowned and narrowed their eyes.

"I'll let you win this battle, Warriors… But once we meet again… You'll beg for life!" he screamed at them, reaching out for the bracelet on his arm and turning its circular face, resulting in him teleporting back to his headquarters in a form of multiple rings enveloping his body, along with the rest of the troops.

Trey withdrew his sword, Max following. "Dammit! We couldn't get anything more from him."

"It's ok. Something tells me this is just one out of a million encounters with him…" Max consoled Trey, as Trey looked back to where the girl was standing.

"We lost the third Warrior too… Crap… Your grandpa won't be so happy about it…"

"…Do you think I care? He's probably gonna make us go back to searching for her… Oh God, what did we get ourselves into…?"

"…Come on. Let's just go back to Pareena for now…" Trey said as they backtracked to the city.

xxx

"…You're back! How did things go?" Alex greeted the boys in the City Hall.

Max sighed. "Not good, grandpa. We lost the girl again…"

Alex frowned and hummed. "…She is of great importance to the fate of this world… You all are."

"Yadda yadda yadda…" Max quietly whispered to Trey, making sure his grandpa doesn't hear him, to which Alex merely smirked and chuckled quietly, shaking his head.

Trey frowned. "…That's not all, sir…"

xxx

"…The G.L.O. Lieutenant?" Alex whispered the words out with a disturbed look on his face, "You said he materialized his arm into a metal sword?" he turned away from the boys, a shocked face expression, and walked a few steps forward, "This is a serious matter… I can't believe they would go so far as to…"

He stopped, and Trey gritted his teeth, frowning.

Max sighed. "So what now?"

Alex turned around to face the boys again. "I… I'm not sure… You need to be very careful, boys. Chrome is a serious opponent… Do not take him lightly, especially after he…" he hummed and stopped again.

"Great. Can we just go back to the inn now? I'm POOPED!" Max protested, bending over to hold his knees, head facing the ground.

"…Of course… You boys must be exhausted after all this… I'm sorry… But there's no one else we can turn to… We need you, for the future of Sapphire…" Alex preached.

"Oh I'm outta here." Max snapped, leaving the hall and heading towards the inn.

Trey watched him leave and hummed, narrowing his eyes.

"Don't worry about Max. He'll come to his senses. He's just still a bit shook up from all this… But you, Trey…" Trey turned around to face Alex, "…I know you have the power to stay strong in this situation… Never give up…"

Trey frowned and nodded, running out of the hall to catch up with Max. Alex smiled and disappeared into the air in a form of fading light.

Trey ran up to Max, and just as he was about to approach him, he felt an excruciating pain coming from his heart. He bent over and kneeled in pain, yowling and holding himself by his heart, resulting in Max turning around and running up to him, trying to figure out what was wrong. Suddenly, Trey's heart started emitting a bright blue light, and he felt something else besides pain. He felt someone. Someone who was really close… He had a feeling…it was regarding the third Warrior. His heart started glowing less and the pain was receding. Max helped him up as he regained his composure.

"…I think…I know…where to go next…" he panted, and Max narrowed his eyes.

xxx

Meanwhile…

"…Report." General Vane calmly said while watching his giant monitor.

"Sir… We've pinpointed the location of the third Warrior again… It looks like she's headed towards the Nightmare Forest… I believe we could trap her again there and then…" Chrome started.

"No…" Vane cut him off, "I want the other two to find her themselves… The forest will do the rest for us… We will merely just have to pick up the corpses…" he started laughing sinisterly and Chrome smirked evilly, as the girl appeared on Vane's monitor.

**End of Episode Two**


	10. Chapter 10 Forest

**Episode Three**

"Nightmare Tales"

**Chapter 1**

"Forest"

She slowly walked through the dark forest. The foliage covered the entire forest completely, no light was to be seen protruding through the thick branches for miles. Strange shadows kept creeping around the trees as if lurking for prey. She was scared. She had no idea where she got herself into, not to mention this world was still very new for her. She held onto her precious necklace, praying she'll pass through the forest with no harm, and soon. She felt many eyes upon her, hoping they'll leave her alone.

Suddenly, she bumped into a dead end. She saw no road around it. Fear consuming her, she spun around, preparing herself for the darkness of the forest to engulf her. And there it was. A creature jumped out of a bush nearby, red eyes glowing in the black scenery, as she froze, her pupils shrinking. It slowly crept towards her from the pitch black darkness of the forest. She squeezed her necklace tightly, heavily panting. And just as the creature jumped and hurled at her, she gasped and raised her necklace into the air, pointing it to the creature. Red light shone from it, and the part of the forest she was currently in illuminated from the strong light of the necklace, including the creature which turned out to be an evil, black, bloodthirsty unicorn-demon. It fell to the ground from the intense rays of the light, and withered into the air, defeated.

She continued panting as the darkness consumed the forest once again. She turned around to the dead end and shot another intense ray of light at the thick trees, a path clearing up to her as if it was hidden there all along. She tucked her necklace in her cloth again as she ran along the path she created, the trees closing in once she gained distance.

He watched all that from atop a very high tree. He narrowed his eyes through his mask as he jumped high into the air and disappeared into the darkness of the deep forest.

xxx

Trey packed all his belongings again, sighing at the fact he and Max have been doing nothing but packing up and traveling ever since this all started. He exited his inn room as Max did the same from the adjacent room. They sighed and shared questioning looks, as if asking each other whether the other was ready to go, then they both nodded and headed downstairs.

At the city gates, the two prepared for yet another long hike, while waiting for Alex to see them off.

"You boys ready yet?" Alex shouted from the street.

The boys turned around and nodded.

"Are you sure you know where you're going…? Don't get into more trouble with the G.L.O…" he was concerned.

"Relax grandpa." Max answered, "Trey said he felt the third Warrior's presence and I think we should trust him. After all, we're all connected, right? Maybe she sent him some sort of distress call or something…" he paused, "Ahh forget it. I'll get another headache from all this. Let's just go. See ya later grandpa. …Again." he rolled his eyes.

"Be safe." Alex chuckled sweetly, as Max started walking out of the city.

Trey frowned at the ground, deep in thought.

"Is something the matter, Trey?" Alex asked him.

Trey snapped out of it. "Oh… Umm… It's…nothing, sir. I guess I'm…just a little worried, that's all." he chuckled hesitantly.

Alex noticed what was wrong and sighed quietly. "Are you still…thinking about your parents…?"

Trey jumped a little. "H-How did you…" he stuttered, caught off guard.

"It's alright, Trey. They died for the greater good. Keep thinking about it like that and you'll be able to move on easier. They did not die in vain. Their end was merely the beginning of your own fate. Don't consider it as your fault." Alex tried to console him, to which chunks of tears suddenly materialized in Trey's eyes, as he tried his best to stop them from falling.

He lowered his head, and Alex tapped him on his shoulder. Trey looked at him again, tears sparkling in his eyes, as Alex merely nodded, assuring him everything was fine. Trey wiped his teary eyes and nodded back, turning around and catching up with Max.

Alex stood there for a while, watching them disappear in the tall grass of the Maruvel plains. He sighed and gazed at the bright Moon, narrowing his eyes.

"High Priest!" the Mayor shouted from the street, Alex turning around, sighing and shaking his head.

"I told you, don't call me…" Alex started, but the Mayor interrupted him.

"We've just gathered information of where the third Warrior has headed! She's in…the Nightmare Forest…"

Alex's pupils shrunk. "But that means…!" he gasped it out, turning towards the plains, "The boys are…!" a look of pure utter shock washed over his face.

xxx

The boys hiked for quite a while, yet again, as they passed through numerous small villages, stopping at a few to get something quick to eat and rest, only to head out again and continue their seemingly never-ending trek to finding the third Warrior of Light.

"Hey Trey…" Max suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Trey jumped a bit, surprised at Max's sudden serious change of voice.

"What do you think…will happen to this world if we fail?"

Trey looked at him sarcastically. "You're kidding, right?"

"Actually… No… I'm pretty serious. I just think all this is happening way too fast. I'm not sure we can keep up well enough…"

"I think we shouldn't ask ourselves that just yet. Just relax. We haven't even tracked down any of the other Warriors, or found any of those crystals… Or even fought the G.L.O. for that matter…" Trey frowned, but snapped out of it quickly, "So uhh, just do your best. I know I will… But right know we've gotta find that girl. I'm not sure we can do anything without her on our side…"

Max glanced at Trey for a bit, eyes narrowed, then looked up front again and sighed. "I…guess… But… I just don't know… I don't really feel ready yet…"

Trey stopped, and Max turned around to look at him, confused. Trey approached him and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Max. Stop worrying. We'll be ok. After all… Didn't your grandpa say nothing can happen while we're together? So it's gonna be fine." he winked and flashed a sweet grin, to which Max still responded with confusion, yet he changed his mind fast, now completely assured and consoled by Trey, as he nodded and frowned determinedly.

They turned around and continued their hiking, when Trey suddenly felt the sharp pain that led him to here again.

He moaned in pain. "She's close…"

Max looked around. "Oh crap… Don't tell me… She's in there?" he pointed to a deep forest not far away from the boys.

Trey held his hand above his heart and moaned sharply again. "I…think so… The pain's growing stronger… We have to hurry…" he got back on his feet and started limping towards the forest, still holding himself by his heart in pain. Max frowned and narrowed his eyes, feeling uneasy about the forest.


	11. Chapter 11 The Shadow

**Chapter 2**

"The Shadow"

They entered the realm of darkness. Only a doorway of bright daylight was left behind them as they proceeded further into the forest, no other source of light for miles. The tree branches were incredibly tall and dense. Not far and deeper in did they feel various other presences in the dark forest. Strange shadows were dimly seen around the trees along the small, tight path they walked on. Glowing eyes protruded from the bushes and foliage, instantly striking fear into the hearts of anyone who dared enter this evil lair.

The boys glanced at each other in fear, as if asking the other what the hell they got themselves into.

"How the heck do you suppose we're gonna find that girl in this freaking maze? I can barely even see you!" Max protested, "I think we should just get back… This is impossible."

"No. We can't ignore this. She's somewhere in here, I know it! She's so close for us to back out now! It's important that we find her, or else we'll all be dead! Come on Max, you should know better by now!" Trey attacked him.

"Well excuse me, but in case you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of a giant shoebox waiting to get swallowed whole by some troll, with no way out and nowhere to go! Sorry, but I'd rather save the world with just the two of us instead of none!" Max fought back.

Trey went silent for a while, then finally sighed. "…Sorry… It's just… I don't wanna let this world fall into darkness again, like what happened 18 years ago… After all our dads fought for… We must reunite the Warriors, don't you see that? It all depends on us now… That's why we must find that girl, or die in here trying." he hastened his walking pace.

Max narrowed his eyes, then closed them and hung his head. _"I honestly hope you know what you're doing, Trey… Or else you'll just end up getting us killed…"_ he thought.

Suddenly, Trey shouted and fell to the ground. "What the?"

Max jumped. "What is it?" he helped Trey up.

"I've no idea! Something just knocked me down!"

They both started looking around frantically, strange noises emanating from the bushes around them, shadows flying through the trees.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Max trembled.

Trey drew his sword out, Max following. They prepared for battle, sighting their surroundings carefully. Out of nowhere, a dark purple shadow flew out of a tree and threw itself at the boys. Trey noticed it and quickly dodged, falling on the ground.

"Whoa!" Max shouted and threw himself on the ground as the shadow flew right past him and dug itself into another tree, "What the hell was that?"

"I have no idea. But this is bad!"

"Gee, ya think? We're gonna get killed by purple shadows, oh what an awesome way to die, even for us!"

"Get a grip, Max! We have to keep moving and get away from those things. Follow me!" he stood up and shot an intense ray of lightning at a nearby tree, the light of the ray clearing out a path for them to walk through.

Through the light, they dimly saw a bunch of strange shadows scattering around the surrounding bushes and trees, as if running away from the intense light.

"Come on!" Trey commanded, running through the clearing as the light faded out.

Max got up and followed him, the branches that were destroyed in the lightning rays merging again, closing the path the boys created.

They ran through the sets of bushes, branches, stumps, trees and tall grass as they kept feeling other presences touching them and bumping into them. They just ran as fast as they could, while he watched them from atop a high branch, then jumped into the air and vanished into the vast darkness.

xxx

Meanwhile…

"Are you absolutely certain they'll succeed, Alex?" a High Priest pondered in the Council Chambers, "We've already seen what they can do, and we have to agree, they don't cut out to be the brave warriors fighting for this world's salvation… Perhaps we made a mistake in letting them hold so much power in their…youthful bodies?"

"We believe they are unprepared for such a serious task." another High Priest added, "Especially your own grandson, Alex… He's extremely careless and sees all this as a joke! We can't have such…children carrying this world's future on their shoulders!"

Alex frowned. "I…know…Holy Ones… But… Please just…give them more time… I'm sure they'll come to their senses…! They already found the third Warrior, so I'm sure they are able to carry out their mission properly, they're just…well…as you said, children… And you know children, they're just not as deliberate as their predecessors…! Their fathers… Which is exactly why I do believe the task is solely up to them to complete. Please, just give it more time… We have no one else to turn to. The fate of the world is in their hands, and I'm certain they are aware of that. I believe in them… And trust me when I say it, they won't let us down."

The Council all glanced at each other in slight irritation.

"…Very well, then. But if they make no sign of progress after a while… And if the G.L.O. keep on doing what they've begun without the boys attempting to stop them… Then we're afraid we'll have no choice but to pass on the Elementals to a new generation…and who knows what might happen from there on."

"…Th… Thank you, Holy Ones. I trust that the boys will come to their senses. Please…do the same." he bowed his head in respect for the Council. _"Trey… Max… There is little time… Please hurry…!"_ his thoughts raced as he left the Council Chambers.


	12. Chapter 12 Utopia

**Chapter 3**

"Utopia"

The boys kept running through the deep, black forest. They shoved off all the thick branches spreading throughout the small path before them, panting heavily. Suddenly, Trey noticed something in the distance. A source of bright light breaking through a tiny clearing in the trees.

"…Wait, what is that?" Trey panted as he ran.

Max noticed the same thing. "Who cares, but it could be the way out! Hurry up!" he sped up.

They crept closer to the light while avoiding encounters with the strange spirits around them, ignoring the whispers and echoes of the shadows creeping in their surroundings, as they reached the bright light and jumped through a doorway of some sort, and collapsed on the ground on the other side of the doorway.

When they got up, still heavily breathing and panting, they found themselves near a forest stream. The branches of the trees were not as tall anymore, and it was daylight. No shadows were lurking around, no strange creatures, just a stream flowing through a clearing between trees.

The boys looked at each other in astonishment. They wondered whether the forest they entered was some sort of an illusion, or even a hallucination or dream of some sort. They looked further away into the forest, where they saw a mountain waterfall breaking through a tall cliff.

"…What the hell…?" Max gasped out, still mesmerized.

"…Are we still in that same forest from just a while ago…?" Trey did the same.

"Believe me, I have no idea…" Max continued.

They walked around a bit, trying to get used to the new forest scenery. Birds chirped from atop the tall branches, the stream water gurgled quietly through the small clearing. The Moon broke through gaps in the tree branches.

"I don't get it, how is this possible? I SWEAR I wasn't imagining that black pit we ran through just a minute ago!" Max panicked.

"I know, I know, it doesn't make sense…! Something weird is going on here… And I don't like it…" Trey pondered.

As they continued walking along the stream, something caught the corner of Trey's eye. He noticed something completely red breaking through the bushes further away from the boys. He looked closer and figured…it was the girl the two of them chased after.

He gasped sharply. "…It's her!"

Max turned his head swiftly to where Trey was looking, as Trey's heart glowed again in its light-blue color, the pain he was feeling not long ago occurring again.

The girl faced them as well and gasped, when her own heart started glowing a red color as she felt the same pain Trey did.

They shared looks for a few seconds, when the girl started running away again through the forest.

"Hey, wait!" Trey shouted and ran towards her.

Out of a sudden, a white unicorn jumped out of the bushes in front of Trey as he fell on the ground.

"…What the?" Max shouted and drew his swords.

The unicorn stood there on the spot, staring at Trey, who panted heavily on the ground.

The boys noticed something different about their surroundings. It was dreadfully silent, compared to a minute ago. The birds stopped chirping, the stream gurgled no longer.

Suddenly, the unicorn neighed and raised its hooves into the air, its horn glowing a bright light. The ground underneath the boys dried out and blackened, and the stream water turned into blood. The unicorn slammed its hooves into the ground, a small earthquake emanating from the pressure. Its eyes glowed blood-red and its body turned completely black as it crept closer to the boys.

Trey quickly jumped back on his feet and drew his sword, backing away from the unicorn.

"Uhh…Trey? How are we gonna fight this thing…?" Max hesitated to ask, walking backwards.

"I haven't a clue…" Trey stuttered.

"Look out!" the boys heard a voice shout from above.

They looked up, and a young boy in a ninja garb fell from the sky, landing in front of the unicorn. He placed his hands in front of his face in the form of a ninja summoning ritual, and a strong tornado enveloped his entire body, making the unicorn step back swiftly.

"Follow me!" he instructed the boys as he summoned an immense gale and directed it at the trees, resulting in the entire surrounding crumbling into the pitch-black forest it was a while ago. The unicorn transformed into a black shadow and disappeared into the trees, whispers of other surrounding spirits starting to echo throughout the forest again.

"Come on!" the ninja boy started running through the trees, instructing the other two to do the same.

The boys shared confused looks, then ran after the ninja boy.

xxx

They ran through the black forest yet again, removing bushes and branches out of their path as they proceeded deeper into the forest, following the strange ninja boy. Suddenly, the ninja stopped in front of a huge tree which seemed to be the eldest, the very heart of the forest.

He raised his hand and a light breeze blew through the tree's branches as it opened up a pathway through its roots.

"In here, hurry!" he advised the boys to go through the pathway.

The shadows crept closer and the whispers became much louder as the boys shared concerned looks, and, realizing they have no other choice, they hurried inside the elder tree, the ninja following. The tree's roots merged again and closed the previously created pathway.

Inside the elder tree was another different forest like the one the boys stumbled upon earlier. This place seemed to be the top of the waterfall they saw in the distance before. The sky was clear again, the birds were chirping, and there was no darkness to be seen anywhere around. The place was like some sort of a Utopia.

"Ok… I've had it with this place." Max snapped, "What the heck's goin' on here? One second we're in La La Land, the next in the friggin' Spiritual Realm!" he turned to face the ninja boy, "And now you came waltzing around from nowhere throwing typhoons all over the place, killing unicorns! Before I go ballistic and crumble this whole nutshell to dust, I expect to you tell us… What…the hell…is up with all this?" he shouted, and Trey simply frowned and calmly awaited the ninja's answer, whereas the other remained clear-minded the entire time.

The ninja sighed. "This forest…" he walked closer to the waterfall and gazed at the greenery beyond, "…Is my home. Or rather…it was until 3 years ago. When the Moon got corrupted by the evil. This forest was what you see right before you…this beautiful Utopian paradise… One of this world's wonders, indeed! But 3 years ago, they came. The Shadows. They appeared from the skies and started corrupting this forest, turning it into that demonic illusion you saw earlier… Only this place we're in right now has not been affected. I've managed to cloak it, but I'm not sure for how much longer…"

He went silent for a while, Trey and Max sharing confused and concerned looks. The boy turned around.

"I'm Hitaru. Hitaru Hudami. I was born and raised in this forest. …Until those beasts destroyed my village, I could call it my home… I'm afraid it belongs…to them now…" he clenched his fist.

Max immediately showed immense sympathy. "H-Hey… I-I'm sorry… I didn't mean to burst out on you like that…" he tried to apologize.

"…It's alright… I understand your anger. I sense that you have experienced great loss as well…"

"Yeah, but…my parents died when I was just a kid, so I don't even remember them at all… You could say I'm some sort of wrongly brought up orphan, heh heh…!" Max tried to cheer up the mood, to which Trey frowned.

Hitaru noticed him. "You've suffered a much greater loss, haven't you…?"

Trey faced him abruptly. He tried to change the subject. "So uhh…what's with the wind-blowing hands? You don't see stuff like that every day, you know… Even if we're in a forest of illusions…"

"…I was born with that. My village was a village of ninjas, and we practiced ways of magic and martial arts…the ways of the ninja. For we are one with the wind…"

Trey and Max shared puzzled looks again.

"Hey… We actually came here looking for someone… It's a girl in red. It's of great importance that we find her… Have you seen her? Do you know where she is?" Trey questioned him.

"Yes, I think I've seen her before… You were following her when the Shadow attacked you, right? …There shouldn't be that many places she can hide away from them, but… I think I might know where she may be. And…if I'm right…then she could be in serious danger! Quickly, follow me!" he ran down the mountain path that leads down the waterfall, Trey and Max hastily following.

xxx

Alex walked along a pathway through a very long corridor with strange, ancient, arcane symbols seemingly representing Sapphire's past decorating its walls. It looked like a forbidden ceremonial chamber of some sort. He limped through the hallway out of oldness, supporting himself by his wooden cane as he finally reached the end of the corridor, finding himself in front of a giant, golden, tightly-shut gate with markings in forms of animal shadows all over it.

Alex raised his hand in front of the gate and a bright light shone from his palm, covering the entire gate. When the light faded out, the gate widely opened with a crackling sound echoing through the deafening silence. Alex steeled himself and sighed, stepping into the chamber ahead. Inside was a small circular room with the walls holding six different animal and creature shapes on them spread out through the entire room's length. At the other side of the room was some sort of pedestal with a crystal ball at its top.

He approached the pedestal. "…For the sake of our world… And the universe… This must be done…!" he muttered to himself as he reached into the inside of his robe, taking out a handful of sand and holding it above the ball.

He formed a small hole in his hand for the sand to come out of it as it fell on the ball, enveloping it entirely. The ball emitted a white light, surrounding the entire room, as the animal drawings on the wall started shining in rhythm with the ball's glow. The markings showed pictures of six different types of animals, each glowing in their own color. The eagle glowed green, the dolphin glowed dark-blue, the dryad glowed yellow, the unicorn white, the phoenix red, and the cheetah sky-blue.

Alex emptied out all the sand he held in his hand as he spread out his arms. _**"In this dark and evil night**_

_**I ask you, spirits of the Holy White**_

_**To strengthen the souls of those you deem right**_

_**Give them power and give them might"**_, he raised his tone of voice as he continued the chant and spiritual figures emanated from the animal drawings, _**"I ask you, in the name of all that is pure**_

_**Envelop the hearts of those that are great**_

_**Guide them, protect them, enlighten and assure**_

_**They stand strong in the light and fulfill their fate!"**_ he shouted as the spiritual figures gathered at the center of the room, swirled into a great, bright mass and disappeared into the air in the form of a powerful magical explosion.

"Now it's only a matter of time… This truly was…for the greater good…!" he muttered the words out as he exited the sacred chamber.


	13. Chapter 13 Keeper of Fire

**Chapter 4**

"Keeper of Fire"

The trio ran through the vast realm of darkness again, keeping to the cloaked, good side of it as best as they could, as the Shadows kept trying to pierce through the barriers that separated the evil side, their cries echoing throughout the surroundings like those of wailing ghosts.

"Not much further now! Come on!" Hitaru shouted as he guided Trey and Max.

"Where are we even going?" Trey asked through heavy breathing.

"To the ruins of my village… It's the only other place I can think of that I managed to cloak… If your friend is still somewhere in this forest and hiding from them, that's the only place she could be in!"

After a while, they reached their destination. Scorched ground, destroyed remains of huts and cabins lying spread out all around the clearing. The place was entirely deserted.

Hitaru's emotions started getting the better of him for a second, but he quickly regained his composure as the howls of the Shadows screamed even louder and the magical barrier that protected that part of the forest started cracking.

They looked around, and Hitaru remembered the small hill up ahead he used to hang around when he was young, as he ran to that direction, Trey and Max quickly following.

Running through a few trees and wild grass, they saw the hill in the distance. As they approached it, they found the girl, helplessly shivering atop the hill, the Shadows piercing through the barrier surrounding her.

"It's her!" Max shouted as the girl swiftly faced them, tears welling up in her eyes.

"…H…Help me…!" she yelped powerlessly.

The boys ran towards her, but as soon as they approached the hill, the barrier completely shattered and black clouds and spirits swirled around the skies above the girl.

The boys stopped in their tracks as they watched the darkness with horror. The girl faced the skies in shock as the clouds hurled themselves at her with the speed of light.

"…No!" Trey and Max yelled as Hitaru's childhood trauma flashed through his head in a split second, images of his village being slaughtered by these same clouds right in front of him.

He frowned hard and gritted his teeth madly as he quickly pulled out his kunai knives, enveloping them entirely with a strong gale force and hurled himself to protect the girl. As the Shadows crept dangerously closer to the girl, she screamed and Hitaru boomed into the dark clouds with his kunai knives, an immense wind blowing them away from her.

The Shadows flew away, circling in the skies around the group like a pack of lions lurking around their prey. Trey and Max ran up to the hill, helping the girl up from the ground.

"Are you okay?" Trey asked her.

Hitaru eyed the black clouds cautiously, his kunai knives drawn, ready for battle. "This is bad…" he suddenly said.

"Huh?" Max questioned, looking at him, then facing the evil spirits that slowly surrounded them like spreading wildfire.

"If we don't do something soon, we'll be torn apart by those things…" Hitaru explained.

"…Hey…look!" Max suddenly yelled out as he pointed at the mass number of creatures emerging from the shadows of the forest. Dragons, unicorns, griffins, manticores and gargoyles, all with entirely black bodies and bloody red glowing eyes slowly crept closer to the group and began surrounding them.

Max drew his swords out, preparing for battle. "…What the hell are we supposed to do?" he panicked.

"We've gotta do something very fast…" Hitaru advised them.

Trey stood up with the girl, her face still facing the ground. She slowly raised her head to face Trey, as they exchanged a deep, fateful glare and their hearts started glowing blue and red once again.

"…It's all…up to you…" he instructed her.

"…B-But… I…" she stuttered, losing herself in Trey's eyes.

"It's alright. I know you can do it… You have the power. Use it on those creatures."

Her eyes glittered as she held her necklace and slowly nodded, Trey giving her an assuring nod in reply.

She raised her head towards the skies as the Shadows hurled themselves at them again. She slowly raised her hand, pointing it towards the diving cloud, as a strong stream of fire gushed out of her hand and dug itself into the cloud. As a result, a high-pitched cry could be heard echoing throughout the forest as the cloud disassembled and, panicking, flew away to the other side.

The girl was shocked as she slowly retracted her hand and gazed at her palms for a while, unsure of what she had just done. "It can't be… Am I truly the…" she whispered through her shock.

The boys glared at her as a thought struck Hitaru. "…They're weak to fire…! But even so, we can't hold out for much longer…! Their forces will restore and they'll attack again…! But what can we…" he stopped as he looked at his surroundings.

The forest was pitch-black, shadows and the creatures roaming everywhere in the vast sea of trees.

"…That's it!" Hitaru got an idea.

"What is it? What should we do know?" Trey reacted in surprise.

"The forest! These things are draining the energy and sustaining from the very life force of the trees! And in order to exterminate them, we must…"

"…burn down the forest…" Trey finished his sentence.

"But what about your homeland…?" Max asked in kind thought.

"This place isn't my home anymore. My home was lost when these creatures infiltrated it…" he looked at the girl and nodded, assuring her it was alright.

She nodded in response, still a bit shaky. She stepped up a bit, extending her hands towards the entire forest, as a massive eruption of fire exploded out of her hands and buried itself in the trees of the entire forest. The Shadows in the skies screeched loudly and the creatures got caught in the flames as the forest spread on fire. The black clouds swirled madly around the sky as they slowly decomposed, the howls and cries becoming less until there were none and the entire forest burnt down in a few moments.

Hitaru's eyes glittered in sorrow as he watched his whole life become nothing but scorch and a wasteland. Though he knew it was for the best and there was no other way.

xxx

A few hours later, the group found their way out from the boundaries of the scorched forest, Trey and Max preparing themselves for setting off once again on their awaiting adventure. The girl in red stood on a small raised clearing, gazing at the setting Moon in the horizon.

Trey approached her. "So umm…" he started, getting an instant turn from the girl, a shy expression on her face, "We barely know you… All we know is that we were set off to find you, as you are one of us. But…" the girl looked away shyly, "…Can you tell us something about yourself?"

The girl felt unpleasant, Trey could tell, as she looked all around, avoiding direct eye contact with Trey. He smiled kindly and took her hand. She gazed into his eyes and blushed.

"It's ok… You can trust us. We won't hurt you like those G.L.O. dorks."

The girl was silent for a bit, then finally spoke. "…I'm…Amy… Amy Scarlet. I'm…not from here." she narrowed her eyes in slight sorrow as she said that, Trey narrowing his eyes in wonder, "I…came here to stop Notus… But…" her eyes started glittering, "I'm sorry, I can't tell you more." she shut her eyes.

Trey frowned in worry. He took both of her hands and slowly raised them into the air, holding them between the two of them. Amy faced Trey, eyes watering, as he flashed her a kind smile, assuring her everything will be alright as long as he's there.

"Don't worry… It's alright. I won't let anything happen to you, I promise." they shared a deep gaze for a while, "Come on… Let's go." he took her by her hand to Max and Hitaru.

Hitaru gazed at the burnt ground around him for quite a while.

"So what will you do now…?" Max asked him.

"…The only thing I can do now is pursue the rest of those sinister things and put a stop to their evil reign once and for all…"

"How 'bout joinin' us then? We could use as much firepower as we can, and yours is pretty wicked, dude…!" Max rejoiced.

"Yeah… You'd be a great help with your magic and knowledge. I have a feeling those things were part of Notus' evil terror, and that's what we're fighting against." Trey added.

"…Notus, huh…" Hitaru pondered, then turned around to face the group, "Just who exactly are you? You never really explained what you're all about. I've heard of the creature you're seeking, Notus… They say his darkness knows no boundaries. But who are you to revolt against such a foe?"

Trey and Max shared questioning looks as they sighed.

"We're uhh…" Max started.

"…The Warriors of Light, as Max's grandpa called us…" Trey finished.

Hitaru was dumbstruck. "Y-You're the…legendary ones who fought the evil G.L.O. organization years ago?"

"Oh well actually, those were our dads…" Max answered.

"We inherited their powers and obviously…their destinies…" Trey added.

"O-Oh! I-I'm honored to meet the descendants of such great heroes! Of course, I'll help you on your quest! After all, I have nowhere else to go anyways…"

"Great! Then it's a deal, Hitaru!" Trey extended his hand to handshake him.

"Please, call me Hy." he grabbed Trey's hand.

Instantaneously, both Trey's and Hy's hearts started glowing blue and green, drawing shocked faces from the entire group.

"I-Is that…what I think it is…?" Max stuttered.

The two boys broke the handshake abruptly, the glows slowly fading out.

"I think it is… He's another one…" Trey gasped out, as Hy was left completely dismayed and wordless while he gazed at his hands, then back at the group, panting heavily, "I guess this means our journey has only just begun…"

xxx

In the G.L.O. headquarters…

Lieutenant Chrome walked inside the General's Chambers, kneeling on one leg, awaiting his superior's orders.

"Have you taken care of the matter involving the Warriors?" Vane asked, facing his computer screen.

"Actually, sir… I'm afraid it couldn't be done. We've received reports that all of them…left the forest safely. On the other hand, the forest was…completely burned down…" Chrome reported.

The General swiftly faced him, stepping out of the shadow. "What? How can that be? They've barely begun practicing their magic! The Shadows were supposed to leave their lifeless bodies there to rot for eternity, not get wiped out in a fi…" he stopped abruptly, a shocked expression on his face, "…Could the fire keeper have finally unlocked her true potential…? This is interesting…" he approached his computer screen again, typing away at the keyboard.

"Sir… There's another thing." Chrome started again.

Vane typed away busily at his keyboard. "What is it?"

"…It also seems someone else left the forest with them… It appears to be a young…ninja boy… What do you make of that?"

Vane stopped typing immediately and turned his head towards Chrome. "…Continue observing them. This entire operation has only just begun… Dismissed."

"…Understood, sir." Chrome bowed his head, stood up and saluted, leaving the quarters.

Vane turned back to his computer screen, green data scrolling through his eyes again. "Well, well, Warriors… It seems you're slowly growing in numbers… It's only a matter of time until you've all gathered. …Like lambs to a slaughter. All of your hearts…will be mine!" he laughed sinisterly, echoing through the entire room.

**End of Episode Three**


	14. Chapter 14 Detour

**Episode Four**

"Once In A Blue Moon"

**Chapter 1**

"Detour"

The quartet of warriors walked through the vast grassy plains, the Moon slowly fading out with its blinding rays to end another exhausting day for them, as they continuously searched for the rest of their group members and the dark crystals planted all over Sapphire to drain its powers.

"You sure this is the right way to the cave, Amy?" Max questioned the newly-recruited Warrior, the fire keeper.

"…Yes… It should be. The people of my homeland know a lot about Notus and the dark crystals he planted… They researched for quite a while. I'm certain I've heard of a parchment that indicates where those crystals are located. Like I said, beings of great wisdom hid it in a sacred place so that it can be restored once again when the time comes. And this…is it. The cave is located here somewhere in the realm of Trinnia, I'm certain…"

The gang all sighed and frowned. It was a long shot, but they needed all the help they could get.

"…Hey look, a village!" Trey exclaimed, pointing at a small village in the distance.

"Oh thank God… I'm pooped. Let's hurry it up." Max rejoiced, hastening his walking pace.

They entered the village through a broken fence that restricted it. The village was pretty big, they noticed. It was certainly not just a detour in the middle of nowhere like the ones they passed through numerous times before. But like all others, this one was vast and empty as well, almost like a ghost town.

"…Hello…?" Trey shouted, his voice echoing throughout the empty village.

"Ugh… Not another ghost town." Max sighed, "I'm sick and tired of that already. Will we ever find friggin' civilization anywhere we go?" he kicked a stone which ended up breaking a window of a nearby house.

Almost instantly, a man jumped out of the same house.

"…Oh my, I'm terribly sorry…! …We didn't notice we've got visitors…!" he approached the group, as they noticed the man didn't look well, "…Come in, please… Come in…" he gestured them to enter the village, as the rest of the villagers suddenly started showing up from their own homes, each of them looking the same as the man who greeted them, seemingly ill.

The man grinned shyly as he escorted the whole group into the village, though he dropped his cheery act momentarily while he gazed into the fading Moon with a devilish glare, his eyes glowing red, as the Moon's color slowly began turning blue.

xxx

They entered the Mayor's house, the man who greeted them. His wife and their children greeted them inside, smiling shyly.

"Umm… Pardon me for asking, but… Are you folks feeling well…?" Max hesitated to ask.

"…Max!" Trey scolded him, as if trying to tell him that was rude thing of him to do.

"Well sorry…" Max said shyly, scratching the back of his head.

The Mayor smiled hesitantly, his wife and children sharing concerned looks. "It's alright… It's nothing serious. It's just…this town's air, that's all. It gets strange this time of year." he glanced at his wife, slightly frowning, to which she jumped a bit.

"…C-Can I…get you something to eat? You must be tired after traveling all this way…" she stuttered.

"Uhh… Yes, thank you… Some food would be nice." Trey laughed hesitantly, sharing puzzled looks with the rest of the group.

"I'll get you something. Make yourselves at home." the Mayor's wife smiled weakly, as she went to the kitchen, barely walking.

"So what brings you to our humble home, strangers?" the Mayor asked, gesturing his kids to go to their rooms, as they glanced at the group strangely for a couple of seconds, then left.

"Uhh… It's…a long story, actually." Trey answered, smiling shyly.

"I've got time to spare." he sat at his chair, taking a strange bottle of something from the nightstand and drinking it.

Amy noticed there were more of those bottles.

"What is in that bottle?" she asked abruptly.

The Mayor got caught by surprise as he glanced at her. "Oh…nothing. Nothing important, just…my medicine. I uhh…have a rare illness, you see…" he stuttered, straining himself to explain without raising suspicion in the strangers, "So where do you kids come from?" he tried to change the subject.

"Well Max and I are from Lassa, Hitaru's from a ninja village in the woods, and Amy is from…" Trey started, but Amy interrupted him.

"…Somewhere far away." she smiled shyly, shifting her sight towards the floor.

"Interesting…" the Mayor raised interest in the strangers, "A ninja and…well, a foreigner… It's not something you get to meet twice in a lifetime… Very unusual…" he grabbed another bottle and gulped it down, raising slight suspicion from the gang, which he noticed.

"…Dinner is ready, everyone…!" the Mayor's wife called the gang into the kitchen.

"Alright! Man I'm STARVED. I could just about eat an entire whale right now!" Max exclaimed happily as he and Trey ran to the kitchen, Hy and Amy quietly following.

While they were heading towards the kitchen, the Mayor noticed Amy's teardrop necklace. He frowned, when her bow caught his sight as well. He noticed a red jewel-like engraving in the bow's handle. His eyes widened. The kunai on Hitaru's waist had the same engravings in their handles, though they were green. He stood up from his chair abruptly.

"Could this be…? Are they the ones that…" his forehead perspired as a wave of dizziness suddenly enveloped him, "No… You will not dare… I won't allow it… You will get rid of them as you were told…" his voice altered as he almost hissed the words out.

He fell back into his chair, holding himself by his head in pain, moaning and groaning quietly. "…B-But… I can't… I have to…stay…strong…" the pain became unbearable as he raised his head abruptly, eyes glowing blood-red, when he grinned evilly and chuckled devilishly, "Yes… That's right… It's for the best… You cannot resist my power…"

The Mayor's children watched their father's monstrous behavior from atop the staircase, as their eyes glowed blood-red as well.


	15. Chapter 15 Suspicion

**Chapter 2**

"Suspicion"

Later that evening…

Max rubbed his full belly, gasping loudly and happily as the group exited the dining room. "Wow… I feel like I've eaten a whale…!" he turned to the Mayor's wife, "That meal was magnificent! I wish you could cook for me forever…" he fell into the living room chair, daydreaming about food.

Trey sighed. "Typical you… But that was amazing, ma'am. We couldn't eat another bite." he chuckled sweetly.

The Mayor's wife smiled hesitantly again. "It's…the least I could do for kind travelers such as yourselves… Will you be staying with us as well? We have some guest rooms prepared for occasions like these…"

Trey shared consulting looks with the group. "Well if it's not too much trouble… I don't think we've got anywhere else to go to… We uhh…have a long journey ahead of us…" he scratched the back of his head, grinning dopily.

"Oh absolutely! Say no more. You're welcome to stay for as long as you'd like…"

"Thank you! Where are the guest rooms?" Trey asked.

"Right this way…" she gestured the group to go upstairs.

They climbed up the stairs as she gazed out the window, the blue Moon slowly surfacing entirely.

"Almost time…" the Mayor's wife whispered to herself, a demonic grin on her face.

"…Sorry?" Amy overheard her mumble.

The Mayor's wife swiftly flashed back to her polite act. "…Oh nothing, dearie… Go on to your room and rest…!" she gestured her to go upstairs.

Amy cocked an eyebrow unnoticeably and the Mayor's wife grinned devilishly again as Amy turned around, escorting the gang to their rooms.

"…In here is the boys' room…" she opened the door, "…and this is the girls' room. I see there's one girl in your squad. You can stay here, dear." she chuckled at Amy, showing her the room opposite of the boys' one.

"…Thank you…" Amy said hesitantly.

"You're very welcome. Rest well, dearies." she walked away, downstairs.

"Funny little village, huh…" Max discussed.

"I suppose so…" Hy answered, "It feels weird, but I guess that's normal behavior in an isolated village like this…" he entered the boys' room.

Max yawned and stretched himself out. "Boy, I'm beat… I feel like we've been hiking for 40 days and 40 nights… Whatever you want from me, you're gonna get it in the morning. Ok? Don't dare wake me up…" he sauntered to his bed, "See ya tomorrow."

Trey laughed at him quietly, shaking his head and sighing. He turned to Amy and noticed she sort of spaced out. "Hey, you ok?" he asked her kindly.

Amy snapped out of it abruptly. "Oh, umm… I… It's ok, I'm fine." she looked away.

Trey blushed slightly. "Oh ok… Uhh… Well I uhh… I guess I'll be getting to bed too…" he stuttered, looking away, "Sleep well!"

"…You too…" she blushed slightly as well, as they both entered their own rooms hurriedly.

The Mayor's wife watched their behaviors from around the corner of the hallway, smirking as she headed downstairs.

xxx

That night…

As Trey was walking down the hallway from the bathroom, half-awake, he passed by Amy's room and noticed the door was slightly ajar. He pushed them a bit, wondering what might've happened to Amy if the door was opened, as he noticed her standing by the window, gazing at the Moon.

He knocked, catching her slightly by surprise.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"…Go ahead…"

"What's the matter?" he walked towards her, "Can't sleep?"

"…I was just…thinking, that's all…" she gazed back at the Moon again.

"About what?" he joined her in gazing at the Moon.

"I… I'm not exactly used to this way of traveling yet…"

"What do you mean by that?"

"…I've always wandered alone, completely by myself… This world's very foreign to me. I just…feel like I don't fit in…" she lowered her head, but Trey raised it back up.

"Don't worry, you have us now. You're very special to us, you know… And we won't let you down, I promise." he flashed her a confident smile, to which she blushed a pink color, "Anyways…" he changed the subject, "What do you think about this village? Something does feel weird about it, huh…"

"I…guess so." she frowned unnoticeably.

"Let's get going again tomorrow. So rest up, ok?"

She nodded slightly. Trey went back to his room. She sighed and exited her room for a walk.

As she approached the staircase, she heard talking coming from downstairs. She frowned in wonder and snuck up closer to the staircase, crouching and protruding her head through the wooden poles.

"It's them, isn't it… The Warriors…" Amy heard the voice of the Mayor's wife.

"It is…" the Mayor answered, "This is a perfect opportunity to prove ourselves worthy to the Dark Lord…"

"The Dark Lord…?" Amy whispered to herself.

"I know… But how are we going to sacrifice them…? They have the powers of the elements protecting them… Even we're not strong enough…" the Mayor's wife pondered, dragging out fear and slight panic from Amy.

"But we could be… If we take out the fire keeper first…" the Mayor explained.

Suddenly, Amy gasped and stood up abruptly, making her leg slip from the staircase and cause a small racket. The Mayor and his wife shot up and saw Amy at the top of the staircase, face overwhelmed with fear. She started running back to the boys' room to alert them. The Mayor growled in annoyance and transformed into a large black mass of smoke, hurling himself towards Amy and appearing right in front of her. She screamed loudly, but the Mayor covered her mouth with his hand, disappearing into the air along with her in the form of black smoke.

Almost instantly, the boys ran out of their rooms, confused.

"What the heck was that?" Max exclaimed.

"You heard it too, right? I wasn't dreaming it?" Trey asked, panicking.

"Yeah… It was definitely somewhere in this house…" Hy pondered.

Trey opened Amy's room and noticed she wasn't in it.

"It's Amy…" he whispered angrily.

"What? Why would she be screaming like that in the middle of the night?" Max wondered.

"Because this place is obviously not what it looks like… Those freaky villagers did something to her. Come on, we have to find her!" he ran into his room to get dressed, the other two following.


	16. Chapter 16 Captive

**Chapter 3**

"Captive"

They exited the Mayor's house, looking around the village.

"The Mayor and his wife aren't in the house… And neither are the kids. They must've done something to Amy… Where the heck could they be?" Trey wondered loudly.

"Why is it this dark out…? Don't they have lamp poles on the streets or something? Sheesh, what kinda village is this?" Max pondered.

He was right, it was pitch-black outside. The houses were all completely dark, as if absolutely no one inhabited them at all, and the street that led through the village wasn't lighted. They could barely see each other.

"Uhhh guys… Look at the Moon…" Hy instructed them as they looked up.

The Moon was completely blue. The boys shared concerned looks.

"What's that supposed to mean anyways…?" Max asked shyly.

"It means… Nothing good…" Hy summarized it to him simply.

"Could something happen to Amy?" Trey questioned him.

"I'm not sure… But this village is definitely not as it appears like. We should hurry."

"But where should we even start?" Max wondered.

Hy hummed loudly.

"What is it?" Trey asked.

"It's just… There was something familiar about the Mayor and his family… Like I've already seen them before…"

Images of the family flashed through his head as he tried to focus on remembering their eyes. They were filled with bloodlust and seemed ill. Then the thought struck him like lightning. Flashbacks of his village being slaughtered by the same-looking creatures with bloodlust eyes flew through his head.

He widened his eyes in shock. "Oh no… I think I know what happened to this village… They've been infected with the Shadows!"

"What? Are you sure? Can those things even do that?" Max exclaimed in surprise.

"I'm positive… I'll never forget those vile creatures… What they did to my people…" he squeezed his hand into a fist, "Notus… He'll pay for all this!" he lowered his head, frowning hardly.

"I know…" Trey placed his hand on Hy's shoulder to try and comfort him, "We won't give up. We'll beat that ugly troll eventually. Though now we have to find Amy first… But…where should we even start looking? For a village, this place isn't very small."

"Somewhere the Shadows can gain full power in the eternal darkness they were born in. The most evil place that exists as a final resting place for the souls lost to the dark, and surely every village has it." Hy explained confidently.

"…You mean…the cemetery…?" Max wondered.

"…Exactly." Hy answered.

"What are we waiting for, let's save Amy!" Trey shouted as they started running towards the other side of the village.

xxx

They reached the cemetery grounds at the end of the village. They looked around, panting loudly.

Trey noticed a mausoleum further away. "There!" he ran towards the mausoleum.

As they approached the mausoleum, Trey tried to open it, but the door was shut tight.

"Typical!" Max exclaimed angrily.

"Not if I can help it." Trey said as he stepped back and shot a strong electric burst at the door, which instantly opened wide.

The gang stormed inside and found Amy passed out and chained to the wall under the…crystal of fire? In front of her, the Mayor and his family were performing some sort of demonic ceremony.

The Mayor turned slowly to face the boys, growling; his eyes filled with bloodlust and glowing.

Trey growled and frowned. "What have you done to her?"

"You shouldn't interfere, pesky little kids… Our Lord will gain ultimate power from the strength of this girl's heart… If we drain all of her power into the crystal, there'll be nothing left of her, and the Lord will praise us for our magnificent deed! The keeper of fire – our greatest enemy, defeated by mere pawns of darkness! Well we will be that no more! But you…? You have no role to play in this grand scheme! Leave this place while you still have lives to leave with!" the Mayor shouted devilishly.

Trey coated his body with electricity in his anger. "Screw you!" he screamed as he attempted to throw a powerful electric discharge at the Mayor, though the other raised a finger and shook it in protest, shaking his head.

"You wouldn't want to harm your little friend, or the crystal for that matter, now, would you…?" he smirked like a demon, eyes glinting uncontrollably.

"Not if I can help it…!" Hy jumped in, creating a tornado that started swirling around the Mayor, as he transformed into a dark cloud again, wrapping himself around the tornado and shaping it into a dark cloud as well.

The boys stood shocked at the failure of their powers as the Mayor laughed demonically, turning back into his human form.

"Is that the best you can do, mighty Warriors…?" he hissed, teasing them.

"Alright, that does it! You're going down, gramps!" Max snapped, stabbing his fists into the ground and creating a powerful earthquake which crept towards the Mayor, as he simply hovered above the crack in the form of a cloud again.

"Are you done…?" he teased them again, glancing and smirking at his wife as she sent a smirk back, "Now it's our turn!"

They both transformed into dark clouds and hurled themselves at the boys in the matter of a second, enveloping their bodies, slowly rendering them powerless from the strong dark magic the clouds emitted. The boys resisted for a while, but soon fell to the ground as they lost strength, passing out.

xxx

As the boys regained their senses, they found themselves back in their guest room of the Mayor's house. It seemed as if they had just woken up from a terrible nightmare. They panicked.

"What the hell was that about?" Max shouted.

"Were we dreaming all that…?" Hy pondered.

Trey jumped out of his bed and went to check up on Amy. But she wasn't in her room, just like he thought.

"It definitely wasn't a dream… Those creeps still have Amy. And we're powerless against them! Dammit!" he slammed his fists into the door frame, "At this rate, they'll get both Amy and the fire crystal… What are we gonna do?"

"Calm down, Trey, it's not over yet…" Max attempted to comfort Trey, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Those creeps are scared of fire, right? Well we just have to find a replacement for Amy to conjure some fire. The question being, how to do that…"

The boys thought for a while, when an idea suddenly struck Trey's mind.

"I think I might have an idea…" he ran inside Amy's room and grabbed her fighting equipment, which was her bow and arrows.

Max and Hy seemed to have gotten the idea.

"Come on, we've got a score to settle…!" Trey ran outside of the Mayor's house.


	17. Chapter 17 Sacrifice

**Chapter 4**

"Sacrifice"

The boys stormed into the mausoleum again, interrupting the Mayor's evil incantation. He turned around to face them, an extremely annoyed look on his face.

"Have you not learned…? Your precious fire keeper is gone! If you keep interrupting me, I'm afraid I'll have no other choice but to eliminate you entirely…" he formed a black energy ball in his hand, to which Trey protested.

"Not a chance, grandpa." he raised Amy's bow and placed an arrow in it, pointing it at the Mayor.

The Mayor simply laughed, drawing an angered frown out of Trey.

"What exactly do you plan to do with that toy? You do realize weapons cannot harm the Shadows?" he teased Trey further, his wife smirking along with him.

Trey flashed a cocky smile. "Unless I do…this?"

The tip of the arrow shone brightly and lit on fire as Trey released the bow's thread, the arrow diving itself into the Mayor, making him fall down and skid back across the floor from the strength of the arrow's flames. The Mayor's wife jumped at her husband's heavy injury, yet she focused on the boys a second later, growling at them as she hurled herself at them in the form of a dark cloud.

Trey swiftly pulled out another arrow and fired it at the cloud, piercing through it with the strong flames. The cloud lit up and dissipated as the Mayor's wife fell to the ground, defeated and struggling to preserve her strength like her husband.

"Hurry up, they'll get back up any second!" Max shouted at Trey.

Trey hurriedly aimed another arrow at Amy's shackles, breaking them in half as Amy fell to the ground, still unconscious.

"Grab the crystal." Trey instructed the other two as he ran towards Amy on the other side of the chamber.

Max approached the crystal and used his earth powers to break the part of the wall that engraved it, and as the crystal started falling down from a height, Hy used his wind powers to hold it in the air long enough to grab it safely without letting it break.

Trey knelt down besides Amy, attempting to awaken her. "Hey… Are you ok…? Come on, wake up… Wake up…! Amy…!"

Trey yelled at her and shook her, yet she was still comatose.

"Trey, we have to go…" Max rushed him, running out of the mausoleum with Hy.

Trey picked Amy up from the ground and carried her out of the mausoleum in his hands.

xxx

The boys continued running towards the village through the graveyard, but stopped at the graveyard entrance to try and revive Amy again. Trey put her down on the ground.

"Come on, Amy… Please… We can't lose you now…! Come on, wake up already…!" he tried again, but to no avail.

Tears welled up in Trey's eyes as he constantly attempted to awaken Amy without success.

"Going somewhere?" the Mayor shouted from the mausoleum, bloodthirsty-red eyes glowing.

He created a dark energy ball in his hand and threw it at the boys with strong force and speed, the ball diving at Hy and throwing him into the air, then slamming him down on the ground.

"Hy!" Max shouted, then turned around hastily to face the Mayor again.

He moved his hand upwards into the air as if summoning something from beneath the earth, creating a cage of earthly spikes in front of the Mayor, blocking him from exiting the mausoleum and trying to prevent him from approaching the boys.

The Mayor simply laughed as he materialized himself in front of the spikes, slowly approaching the boys.

"You cannot escape from here… That girl is the key to our rise in power! And I'm afraid you have meddled with my plans for far too long now…" his wife and his children appeared beside him in a dark cloud, grinning devilishly with bloodlust eyes, as the rest of the villagers seemed to have started creeping slowly towards the graveyard, "We will not give in… Our glory will finally be recognized by the Dark Lord! Do not let them escape here alive!" he yelled a command to the infected villagers.

Hy stood up from the ground and slowly walked backwards to the rest of the group, arming himself with his kunai knives.

"This is not good… Without Amy's powers, we're doomed…!" Hy warned the others.

Trey quickly stood up, his teeth madly gritted, as he aimed at the Mayor with Amy's bow again. The Mayor swiftly threw another dark energy ball at the bow, throwing it further away from the boys.

"No you don't. Not this time. Without that girl, you're powerless…! Give us the girl! Now!" the Mayor demanded as the villagers crept closer like some sort of brainwashed zombies.

"Dammit!" Trey shouted, dropping down to Amy's side again and cradling her knocked out body, "Come on Amy, we don't have time! Please! Wake up! Wake up, Amy!"

The Mayor laughed sinisterly.

"Amy!" Trey yelled as much as his lungs could let him, as both his and Amy's hearts started glowing with blinding blue and red lights.

"What?" the Mayor got caught by surprise.

The light surrounded the entire graveyard, forcing the infected villagers to cower in fear of the strong blinding white rays. As the light faded out, Amy opened her eyes and groaned, still slightly fatigued. Trey sat there, gazing at her in wonder with teary eyes. She slowly stood up, holding herself by the head as Trey helped her up. The Mayor watched in amazement at how Trey managed to cure her completely, as the rest of the villagers still cowered in fear of Amy's firepower.

"I… I don't understand… How is this… You should not have been able to do that!" the Mayor raged.

Trey smirked confidently. "I guess you've underestimated us. Too bad for you."

The Mayor growled. "You have no idea what you're doing! We must have the…" he stopped as he suddenly started bending on the ground in pain, as well as all the other infected villagers, "…No… What are you… You don't have the strength to…"

They all seemed to have been fighting some strange force as the group watched in amazement.

"What's going on…?" Max quietly asked.

"P…Please… Release us from this…misery…" the Mayor muttered quietly.

"H…Help us… Kill us…" all the villagers murmured.

"What's happening…?" Hy wondered.

Trey gazed up in the sky. He noticed a huge cloud seemed to have covered the blue Moon entirely, breaking the connection seemingly necessary for the villagers' complete possession.

"It's the Moon…!" Trey gasped, "It's making them do all this…!" he glanced back at the Mayor again, "There must be some other way! We can't just kill you! Fight it!"

"N…No… We can't… We've been…fighting for…too long… Notus' evil is…excruciating… We don't want to live…under his influence…any longer… Please… Save us…" his eyes turned red again, "No! You can't! I won't let you! I still have power!" the infection tried to break through again.

"Damn… What are we gonna do? We can't kill them! They're innocent human lives! There must be another way!" Trey panicked.

"But what, Trey? We don't have much time to think about this, they'll tear us apart!" Max shouted.

"Crap…!" Trey tried to think.

The clouds revealed the blue Moon completely again as the villagers regained their composure, still panting heavily.

"We will not be defeated… Give us the fire keeper! Now!" the Mayor shouted as he and all the other villagers started swirling around the group in forms of dark clouds, trying to drain their strength again.

"Trey, we have no choice…" Max tried to convince him.

"Dammit! But…" Trey panicked again.

"Trey! We can't save them! They've been lost ever since Notus gained control of them! They died the day he infected them! Now hurry or we'll all die!" Max yelled at him, as he frowned very hard, trying to ask forgiveness for what they're about to do.

"Amy…" Trey started, but didn't know how to finish.

They shared a deep look, as if assuring each other there was no other way.

"…Forgive me…" Amy whispered to the villagers as she summoned an extremely intense wave of fire which exploded from her body, booming all around them and extinguishing the dark spirits.

xxx

The day after, the group prepared to depart on their mission again as Trey was sitting on a rock in front of the village, gazing at the Moon.

Max approached him. "Hey. You ok?"

"…I was just…thinking about how completely powerless we were without Amy's help back there… We'll have to rely on her a lot more than we thought, it seems. She's the only one who can fight the Shadows as it is… So what exactly can the three of us do? This is stupid."

"Well you have a point there… But you're the one who convinced me that we have a destiny to fulfill, you know… Now you're crying to me about it? …Look, I know that we don't have much to offer, but I don't think Notus could be so easily destroyed by just a mere girl. He would've been dead already years ago by the hands of our dads if it were that simple! We all have a role to fill in, we just don't know what it is yet. So come on, just forget about it. It's not gonna be so easy."

"…Do you even care about these villagers?" Trey changed the subject, "How we so heartlessly destroyed them? So what, we're just gonna keep killing all the ones that have been infected by that thing up there? That we should just forget about the innocent souls that have been trapped under the dark veil? I can't do that! I won't take innocent lives! I just won't!" he shouted in anger.

"Trey! We can't save everyone! It's not that simple. We have to face the fact a part of this world is already lost forever, and we can't do anything about it. But think of all the others that are still living in fear of becoming lost themselves! Would you prefer them all becoming mind slaves to that hideous creature?"

Trey hummed and diverted his gaze from Max as he frowned and sighed deeply.

"I don't know. I just…don't know… This is too difficult, I can't keep up with everything… It just looks like we have to make an enormous number of impossible choices and a lot of sacrifices to achieve our goals, and I just can't do that. I just…" he paused, shaking his head, "God… I wonder how our dads could do it… What choices did they have to make? How difficult was it for them…?"

Amy and Hy approached the two.

"Ready for departure? We still have to find that cave." Hy asked them.

Trey closed his eyes and sighed very deeply. "I guess."

Amy watched him in sorrow. "I'm sorry, Trey… We had no choice… I…" she started as Trey jumped from the rock.

"It's ok. It had to be done. Let's just hope it doesn't have to come to that ever again… Let's go." he started walking hastily towards their next destination.

The rest of the group glanced at each other.

"Will he be alright…?" Amy asked.

"He'll have to. Or we're all done for." Max answered and started following Trey.

Amy and Hy shared concerned looks, as Hy shook his head and sighed, joining the other two. Amy took one last glance at the Moon, frowning in slight anger as she set her bow on her back and ran a bit to catch up to the boys.

**End of Episode Four**


	18. Chapter 18 Search

**Ep****iso****de Five**

"The Parchment"

**Chapter 1**

"Search"

"It must be around here somewhere…" Amy pondered out loud as the group walked through the mountain path of the Trinnia realm, still searching for the cave holding the parchment which indicated that Notus' dark crystals were nearby.

"I just hope we'll get to the parchment first, before those GLO jerks beat us to it…" Max hoped.

Trey stopped atop a mountain peak, gazing beyond. "Well you're a bit late with that prayer."

The group joined Trey and gazed in shock.

"They're here…" Hy whispered it out in anger.

The GLO soldiers were surrounding a cave, guards patrolling at the entrance and an enormous number of excavation tools lying all around.

"Well I guess that must be it, then…" Max concluded, "But how in hell are we supposed to get past them?"

"…No clue…" Trey answered with a sigh.

"You can't give up. Those monsters can't have the parchment." a familiar voice said from behind the group.

Everyone swiftly turned around in panic and, seeing Alex, sighed in relief and smiled.

xxx

"Grandpa! Man you gotta stop stalking us like this… It's getting creepy. And how the hell do you even do it anyways?" Max complained.

"It's not the time, my boy. The only concern now is the parchment. The GLO came here this morning and started digging up the cave and mining, looking for the parchment. If I only knew how they found out about it…"

"So what are we supposed to do now?" Trey asked.

"They still haven't found it. You have time. You must get it before they do, that parchment is of vital importance. Without it in your possession, GLO and Notus will surely destroy this world!"

"Yeah, yeah… What else is new?" Max rolled his eyes, sighing.

"Be careful inside the cave… It's highly protected by forces of nature. It's designed to keep the weak and unstable from getting hold of the parchment… But I know you can do it."

"Naturally." Max commented sarcastically again, "Come on, let's kick some GLO butt, guys." he ran down the curved path, charging towards the GLO guards at the cave entrance.

"Good God… He'll never change." Trey shook his head, running after Max, the rest of the group following.

Alex chuckled, shaking his head. "Youngsters. Oh what would they do without me…" he disappeared in the form of fading light.

Max rushed down the mountain, swiftly grabbing his double swords and diving at the two soldiers at the entrance, completely taking them off guard as he slashed them with his swords, knocking them out with brute force. He swirled his swords around his palms and put them back in the sheath, showing off and grinning. The rest of the gang ran up to him just then.

"Heh… That's how it's done! Learn from the pro, guys!" he showed off some more, drawing annoyance and deep sighs from the other boys in the gang.

Amy watched in a puzzled look.

"Come on, Mr. Pro… Don't wanna be around when the rest of them storm in. Let's go." Trey instructed the group as he walked into the cavern.

Max pouted. "Party pooper." he dramatized as he followed the group inside.

xxx

The gang advanced into the deep, dark cavern. It was surprisingly vast, almost looking like an entire underground world of sorts, rather than a regular cavern. Stalactites and stalagmites were all around, water droplets dripping from the stone ceiling, creating puddles and small streams over the entire ground. Groups of bats lurked around. Those were all signs indicating that the gang must proceed with extreme caution.

They walked through the moist scenery, Trey and Max leading, with Amy and Hy a few steps behind them. Max smirked at Trey. "So Trey…" he whispered to his best friend, a teasing voice, "You makin' your move yet…?" he chuckled teasingly.

"What are you talking about?" Trey cocked a confused eyebrow.

"Oh you know… A certain **hot** girl gets your **temperature** **heated** **up** every time you glance at her and you're doing nothing about it…?" Trey blushed, diverting his eyes, "When the hell are you gonna make a move on her? I know you dig her. A LOT. And she's a total babe, it'd be a complete waste. She might lose interest entirely if you don't do something. FAST." Trey sighed, shaking his head, "Besides, I think she fancies you too a bit, from the way she acts around you and everything…" he chuckled teasingly again.

Trey blushed madly. "R…Really? Y-You sure?" he glanced back at Amy, watching her talk to Hy about something.

"Ohhh yeah, pre-tty sure." in his moment of carelessness, Max stepped on some sort of raised surface, which momentarily indented into the ground, "I think you have a very strong chance of succeeding, so like I told ya, just DO IT!" he nudged Trey, who lowered his head and sighed, looking in front of him again.

"…Yeah, yeah… I guess…"

That very second, a gigantic axe swung from the ceiling in the middle of the pathway, attempting to cut through the boys.

"WHOA!" Trey shouted as he noticed it, jumping on Max and knocking him down, saving them both from the swinging axe.

"What?" Hy shouted from behind.

The cavern walls suddenly started closing in on the group.

"What the hell?" Max exclaimed, jumping up and trying to push the walls back using his earth powers.

Using all his force, he managed to return the walls to their primary position after a short while. Panting and grasping for air, Max simply gazed at the rest of the gang, Trey doing the same.

Amy gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. "…Are you two alright?" she asked, concerned.

"…H…Hell no…!" Max still panted, dropping down on the ground from exhaustion and shock.

"…I…guess neither of us has to say **I owe ya one** now, huh…" Trey attempted to sound funny, getting an evil glance from Max.

Hitaru looked around, noticing the indented surface on the ground behind them. "This is going to be an interesting hike… There are certainly thousands of booby-traps all around this place, we can't be careless like that anymore…" he advised the group.

"Yes… But we must keep going before the GLO find the parchment…" Amy added.

"But the exit's so very close…" Max whined sarcastically.

"Let's go, guys." Trey said, getting up from the ground and wiping the dust off his clothes, "No time to waste."


	19. Chapter 19 Prophecy

**Chapter 2**

"Prophecy"

As they proceeded deeper into the cavern, the scenery quickly became much more eerie and dark. They felt uneasy as they journeyed further still into the very heart of the sacred cave. Strange illustrations decorated the walls in these parts, something what seemed to be priests fighting a devilish creature with holy power, and crystals located in different parts of a land. The group suspected it to be ancient inscriptions of battles against Notus and dim locations of his dark crystals.

At the end of that long corridor was a small chamber with a large decorated pedestal at the end of the room. There was a small stone pillar in front of it, and an inscription engraved in its bottom. Trey approached the pillar, knelt down and started reading out loud.

"_**With a blazing touch the path will reveal**_

_**A hand of fire that darkness can heal**_

_**The crimson princess this land will free**_

_**And slay the evil beast, so shall it be…"**_

Trey stood up and tried to think about what the inscription meant.

"Is this…some kind of prophecy? What does it mean?"

"…I know what it means…" Amy stepped up, a serious look on her face.

"You do?" Max asked, puzzled, "How so?"

She approached the pedestal. "It's prophesying…about me…"

"What?" Trey shouted, "How can it be about you? Freeing this land…? Slaying an evil beast? What does that have to do with you exactly?"

"I…" she started, raising her hand in front of her face and gazing sadly upon it, "It's because I am… The Princess of Scorch, a planet far away from Sapphire…"

The boys stood in shock.

"I… Came here to this world long ago… With only one objective. To destroy the monster Notus at any cost…" she closed her eyes and frowned hardly, "But that's not important now. …I will tell you everything after we've found the parchment." she raised her hand above the pedestal and lit it on fire as a flaming line parted the pedestal and the wall behind it in two, separating them as a pathway revealed itself leading deeper into the cave.

"A blazing touch revealing the path… I guess it was true… I had no idea you were…" Trey started, but stopped.

Amy turned around slowly, a sad and serious look on her face as she started walking through the pathway.

"We don't have time." she said.

The boys shared deeply concerned glares, as if wondering if everything will be alright, and started following Amy.

"Hey, Amy…" Trey ran up to her and grasped her by the elbow, when at that moment, a loud boom was heard echoing throughout the entire cave followed by a strong earthquake.

"Whoa!" Max exclaimed as he fell to the ground and tried to maintain balance, the others doing the same.

"What is that?" Hy shouted.

"It's coming from this way!" Trey pointed to the left path of the fork in the road in front of them.

The earthquake subsided and the gang ran towards the source of the explosion. They ran through a long corridor until they saw GLO soldiers in the distance, standing in front of some large gate. They stopped momentarily.

"Oh crap, them again…" Max grumbled.

"I hope they haven't found the parchment yet…" Hy said.

"I think they're right in front of it…" Trey guessed, "That gate must lead to it."

"So…have we failed?" Max asked.

There were lots of mining tools, drills and explosive devices surrounding the GLO soldiers, as they were right in the middle of breaking through the seemingly impregnable giant gate.

"I don't think so… Not yet." Trey smirked, "We just have to wait for them to do the hard part for us."

The rest of the group smiled confidently and nodded.

xxx

Quite some time passed as the gang sat hiding in the shadows of the cavern and behind rocks to avoid detection from the mining soldiers, before it seemed the GLO finally succeeded in breaking through the giant gate supposedly hiding the parchment.

"I think we've found something!" a GLO soldier shouted to the rest of them swirling about.

All of them gathered in front of the gate, dropping everything they were doing at the moment. The gang stood up as they noticed bustling among the soldiers.

"Did they finish?" Hy asked.

"It looks like it can't go any further than this. Seems there's a small draft coming through here." the soldier put away his giant drill and pointed towards the crack he made with it.

"Good job. Put a ton of explosives there and that should finish the work." a GLO sergeant commanded the troops.

They stuffed a bunch of explosives into the crack, lit up the fuses and ran and hid from the large explosion that was about to follow. The gang all covered their ears and crouched behind the rocks as the humongous explosion unraveled another earthquake which quickly subsided. A hole big enough for a human to crawl through appeared on the gate.

"Let's go in." the sergeant led the troops into the chamber.

"You ready, guys?" Trey asked the rest of the group as they all nodded in response, then led them sneaking into the chamber after the GLO.

Inside, there was a long staircase leading upwards and a sacred altar at the top. The parchment was placed on it. The sergeant carefully picked up the parchment while making sure no traps were to be caused by it, as he quickly replaced the parchment with a worthless scroll just to be safe.

"There…" he smirked satisfyingly, "Now let's report back to…" he stopped as he turned around, seeing all of his troops trapped by the Warriors.

"I believe we'll be needing that nifty little piece of paper…" Trey smirked cockily and extended his hand, waiting for the sergeant to hand him over the parchment while holding his sword under a soldier's neck in his other hand, as the gang all held their weapons right under the remaining soldiers' necks, ready to cut them if the sergeant protested.

The sergeant frowned and started mildly sweating, yet still smirked. "And what if I refused? I don't value their lives, they're just pawns. Soldiers-for-hire."

The troops gulped and sweated as well.

"Yeah…but you do value your own life, right? We're not letting you go anywhere, and we ARE Warriors of Light after all, you know…" the gang smirked.

The sergeant growled at a threat he couldn't ignore. He threw the parchment to Trey, who caught it with his free hand.

"Thanks! Pleasure doing business with ya!" Trey laughed and thumped the back of the soldier's neck, rendering him unconscious for the time being, as the rest of the group did the same to the other troops and started running out of the chamber.

The sergeant narrowed his eyes as he stood there helplessly. He grasped his bracelet and pressed a small button. "Lieutenant… You're not going to like this, I'm afraid…"

As the gang ran towards the way they came from, hoping to reach the cave entrance that way, another earthquake seemed to have taken place and they were forced to halt abruptly. Part of the ceiling started crumbling and giant boulders fell in front of the gang to block their path.

"Max?" Trey gestured to Max to try and move the boulders.

Max concentrated hardly, yet after a few seconds realized the boulders were too heavily piled to be moved.

"Sorry… I think we've gotta find another way…" Max advised.

Trey looked around, noticing a barely-lit tight corridor nearby. "Guess we've got no better options, then. Come on!" he guided as they ran through the narrow pathway.

A few steps into the corridor and Max heard something breaking the walls behind them as he ran in the very back. He turned his head around and, noticing huge bloody spikes creeping closely behind them and disintegrating the walls, widened his eyes uncontrollably as he screamed to the rest of the group as much as his lungs allowed him. "FASTEEEEERRR!"

The gang turned around as well and sped up as much as they could after seeing what was pursuing them. A while after, they ran up to a path that led left and right, as they split up and jumped on the ground after exiting the narrow passageway. The spikes gushed into the wall in front of them as they gasped and panted after barely escaping death.

"Jeez, where the hell is the exit in this place?" Trey shouted.

"We have to keep going or the GLO will catch up to us…!" Hy advised.

"Yeah, but where to?" Max asked.

"Ugh… Left!" Trey made a quick decision.

Not long after, the group saw a small crack of daylight in the distance as they finally reached the exit. They all ran out of the cavern in heavy panting as they nearly collapsed on the ground.

"Finally… And I think we lost the GLO dweebs…" Max sighed it out.

"Think again, my good friend." a familiar voice was heard a few meters in front of them.

The gang looked up in surprise and saw Lieutenant Chrome holding his sword arm pointed at them and smirking, his troops surrounding the whole cave with rifles ready to shoot at the Warriors.

"Chrome…" Trey growled through gritted teeth as a short chuckle escaped the Lieutenant's dark smirk.


	20. Chapter 20 Pursuit

**Chapter 3**

"Pursuit"

"I'm impressed at how your little band of merry fellows grew up to be so powerful so quickly… You continuously keep throwing down my men and causing mischief everywhere you go… The General's been having migraines after hearing my reports of fail every time I walk into his quarters… And now there's this little golden trinket to gather some of his senses back…" he sighted the parchment in Trey's hand, "I do believe he could make perfect use of the secrets it holds… And to think you could've actually fooled us if you were a bit smarter and avoided this encounter, which sadly, you weren't. But I think the time for chit-chat is over. Be a good mongrel and hand over that parchment and we'll let you walk away unharmed…this time." he grinned in his joy.

"As if you jerks can ever be trusted! We're not as gullible as the poor people of Sapphire you pulled around like your personal toys all those years ago!" Max yelled at Chrome as the Lieutenant's expression changed into a displeased one in a single moment.

"Yeah, we'll put a stop to you! What our dads couldn't accomplish we'll be glad to take after them…" Trey took his sword out and grasped it tightly with his free hand, hiding the parchment with the other, as the others grabbed their weapons as well.

"You do realize you're attempting to fight the best gunmen in all of Sapphire with puny little steel sticks?" Chrome smirked.

"You do realize if we get harmed the parchment will take a one-way trip to the trash can and your precious General will have your heads?" Trey smirked back.

Chrome growled. "Give me the parchment, or else!" he proceeded towards Trey in a slow pace.

"Not today, Iron Man!" he threw the parchment high up into the air, "Now, Amy!"

Amy swiftly created a sea of fire around them causing the soldiers who were surrounding them to quickly step back and prevent them from targeting the gang. Trey targeted a lone GLO soldier that stood in their way from escape and fired a strong lightning bolt at him, knocking him down to the ground. By then, the parchment started falling back down and Trey quickly caught it, shouting to the others to make their move.

"Don't let them escape!" Chrome screamed as he regained his composure after the fires dissipated and charged after the gang, gathering his soldiers.

As the gang gained some distance between the GLO and ran towards the surrounding mountains, Max quickly turned around and summoned a giant stone wall from beneath the ground to try and buy them some time and flee over the mountains.

Chrome and his men ran up to the wall and halted as Chrome growled. "Stand back!"

He shapeshifted his bionic arm into a giant hammer and struck the stone wall, which immediately shook.

The Warriors were nowhere near their escape as the stone wall nearly tore down. They panicked.

"What the hell are we gonna do now? They'll catch us! We can't let them have the parchment, they'll do even worse things than Notus with it!" Max yelled.

"I know, I know…! We won't make it over the mountains in time… Dammit!" Trey tried to think.

"Look!" Amy pointed to the distant fields.

Backup for the GLO soldiers was arriving to assist them in capturing the Warriors.

"Crap… This ain't good…" Max stated.

"…I'm afraid we'll have to hand the parchment over to them if we truly value our lives… If we die here, there wouldn't even be a need for that piece of paper since they'd have no one to stand in their way once they start looking for the crystals themselves…" Hy wisely advised.

Trey frowned and growled. "But still either way, we'll be at a loss! Can we really just surrender all the crystals to the likes of them?"

"No, but…" Hy started, but got interrupted by another very loud strike of Chrome's hammer which found its way through the earthly barrier behind them.

Chrome showed an irritated face as he slowly approached the Warriors and shifted his arm back into a sword. "Did you really think that pebble could stop my superb mechanical tool?" he laughed, "Now surrender before you finally get yourselves hurt."

The reinforcements arrived and all pointed their guns at the group.

"What's it gonna be, kids?" Chrome made his final threat.

Trey stood silent for a moment then sighed deeply as he surrendered. "Fine… Have the stupid scroll. But believe me, next time we meet, I'll personally kill you." he gritted his teeth as he threw the parchment over to Chrome who caught it with his normal arm.

"I doubt that, punk. But thanks for the cooperation! Now was that such a hard thing to do…?" he laughed evilly, "Well then, I'm sure we'll meet again very soon. …I'll let you walk away now."

"Scared ya might lose your head, ya big fat metal chicken?" Max taunted him.

Chrome merely chuckled. "Hardly." he narrowed his eyes, as if implying that Max might've been right.

As the GLO were getting ready to use their bracelets and teleport back to their headquarters, Trey became furious. "Well if we can't have the scroll, you filthy scum definitely won't!" he shot an intense thunder ray at the scroll in Chrome's hand, which fell to the ground just as he disappeared along with his men.

The gang all stood in shock at what Trey managed to do. They ran up to the scroll and Trey grabbed it, rejoicing the following second. Hy noticed something shining in the dirt next to where the scroll fell. He knelt down and picked up a half-scorched dark-green device.

"Wait a moment… Isn't this what the soldiers were wearing on their arms?" Hy questioned.

Trey took a closer look and found out it was Chrome's teleportation bracelet device which must've suffered an electroshock and fried out from Trey's powerful thunderbolt.

"It is… This is so awesome! I never thought that could actually work! Now we have both the parchment and the one and only access to the GLO headquarters!" Trey happily announced.

"Yeah but it's fried… We ain't going on free evil facility tours with that thing, y'know…" Max sarcastically explained.

"Well… We should keep it with us. You never know when we might find someone to fix it or something…" Trey examined the object.

"Umm I hate to break this celebration, but what if they come back for the scroll?" Hy shook them from their thoughts.

They all snapped. "Totally right. Let's bail!" Trey shouted as they ran over the mountains.


	21. Chapter 21 Faraway

**Chapter 4**

"Faraway"

In the GLO headquarters…

Chrome ran inside General Vane's chambers. "General! Those blasted kids managed to get away with the Parchment! Dammit, they're becoming too powerful really quickly…!" he lowered his head and gritted his teeth in anger and shame.

General Vane chuckled, his back turned to Chrome. "Oh why am I not surprised…? You idiots can't do anything properly… I should've collected that rare gem myself. Nevermind… I have but a few more tricks up my sleeve… Has the Priestess been found?"

Chrome gulped. "Umm… Sir… There's just one more thing… M-My bracelet… The one used for teleporting to the headquarters… I uhh…"

"Spit it out, you blundering oaf!" Vane shouted in his limited patience.

"It dropped along with the Parchment after the Warriors attacked me during the teleportation!"

"WHAT?" Vane turned around in haste to face Chrome, enraged, "Do you realize what you have done, brainless buffoon? If they find out where our hideout is, the entire Project Lunairetic will be sabotaged!" his expression washed white with fear, "And if that happens, you will be the first to lose his head!" he pointed his sword at Chrome's neck, who shivered.

"B-But I do honestly b-believe it was s-scorched in the attack, S-Sir!" Chrome stuttered, "I-I don't think they'll be c-coming here so soon…!"

"Don't underestimate them! They appear to be a lot more cunning than their predecessors…and their fathers…! Back down from investigating further into the Priestess assignment, we have bigger things to worry about now, thanks to your incompetence…"

"I-I'm s-sorry, Sir…" Chrome stuttered again.

"Quiet! I don't want to see your miserable face right now. Dismissed!" he commanded as he spun around to face his computer screen, his dark-blue cape swiftly flying behind him.

"Y-Yes!" Chrome saluted as he ran out of Vane's chambers in panic and fear.

Vane thought deeply for a while, figuring out how to secure himself from the danger the Warriors might cause him. He typed away at his keyboard madly as images of the Moon, the crystals and a black ghostly figure quickly flashed over the screen and green binary codes scrolled through his terrified frown.

xxx

"Splendid! I knew you kids were up to the task!" Alex rejoiced upon seeing the Warriors holding the Parchment.

"All that drama for this crummy piece of paper… Jeez, grandpa, way to practically throw us in the lions' den!" Max complained in his usual sarcastic tone.

"It's not just a piece of paper, Max… Unfold it."

Trey did as Alex advised them, revealing a miniature map of a part of Sapphire's world, the one they were currently in. It covered the entire Trinnia realm of the south and a part of the southwestern Lassa Oceanside, along with a fragment of the Kanku swamp regions to the southeast. It wasn't very detailed, and it showed only rivers or lakes, forests, caverns and towns in the lowest possible pictography. The center of the map seemed to be exactly where the gang was located at the moment.

"Wow. Awesome. One eighth part of Sapphire on an ancient crumbling hand-drawn map. I don't get it." Max pondered.

Alex sighed. "You have no idea how valuable this map is… It holds the key to this planet's salvation…"

"Naturally." Max added.

"But yeah, Max is kinda right, there's nothing on this map that's of any special importance at the moment…" Trey examined the map.

"There will be. Give it some time. It shows the exact pinpoint location of the dark crystals whenever there is one in the vicinity of the map. As you advance across the borders of the map, it extends to show more of Sapphire's world."

"That's some marvelous technology!" Hy was amazed.

"Yes, it was made by the Prophets over 40 years ago… Just as their lifetimes were nearly at an end, they predicted Sapphire's future and saw all this happening, so they used up the last of their magic to create this scroll and did whatever they could to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands…"

Amy narrowed her eyes in a sad gaze.

At that moment, a bright ball of light appeared on a part of the map in the far upper part of Trinnia.

"Hey, is this it?" Trey exclaimed in surprise.

"Indeed it is." Alex replied.

"But there's nothing but a desolate desert there…! How could a crystal possibly be hidden in the middle of a humongous, empty sandbox?" Max wondered.

"There might be something else there." Alex explained, "You should get going, then."

"Come on, guys," Trey said as he folded the parchment and stuffed it in his backpack, "ready to get the second crystal? We're getting pretty good at this jewelry hunting, eh?" he adjusted his backpack and started walking towards the north, the others following.

"Yeah sure, nothing more manly and invigorating than collecting sparkly diamonds all over the world… We should open up a jewelry store once we've got 'em all!"

Trey and Hy laughed, as Amy got caught in her thoughts, left behind.

"Coming, Amy?" Trey shouted to her, as she snapped out of it.

"Something on your mind, Princess Scarlet?" Alex chuckled as he watched her gaze at him in wonder.

"…You…know who I am?" she asked him, puzzled.

"Of course, Miss. There's not a single member of the Council who doesn't know of such an honorable and powerful family as yours…"

"…You are a Priest? …I had no idea…"

"Yes, well, the boys don't know that either. Not yet. It's best not to trouble them with something as confusing as the Council right now… I'm just giving them information they need to be aware of at this time… Do kindly respect that, Miss. Please."

"I…understand…"

He smiled. "Don't worry as much. I'm sure the boys will understand everything about you and your past, if you open up your heart to them and relax. You're very important to them. Especially Trey, no doubt…" he chuckled quietly, "But I've talked for far too long now. We'll meet again later, Miss."

He faded into the air, leaving Amy to stand there, dazzled with mystery as to whom exactly that man was, and what he wasn't telling them. She closed her eyes and grasped her tear-shaped necklace, quietly sighing as she started running to catch up to the boys.

**End of Episode Five**


	22. Chapter 22 Legend

**Episode Six**

"Maiden Voyage"

**Chapter 1**

"Legend"

"Come on, men, we have a deadline to fulfill! Set the sail!" a boat captain commanded to his small crew as they just set sail to cross the giant lake of Trinnia at dusk, "Come on, come on, the fish'll git rotten! We ain't gettin' paid if we dun cross the lake in time."

The men carefully raised the sail on the small yet well-crafted transport boat.

"Ugh… I'm really feelin' uneasy lately… Ya know… 'Cause of the mermaid…" a sailor chit-chat with another man.

"Oh shuddup… That's just a ruse. Ya know that ain't true. Just a fairytale the women thought up fer easier gossip. And tah scare us, which is obvious just by lookin' at ya, ya weenie." the other man made fun of the other.

"Meh. I dunno what tah believe anymore… With that damn Moon and those weird shadows everyone's talkin' 'bout that were sighted down south… This world's screwed up, and that ain't no fairytale."

The other man sighed. "Whatever. Git back tah work, the cap'n'll start shoutin' again."

The sailors sailed for a few moments, and as dusk drew nearer and night started falling, the ship sailed into a sudden mist unable to be seen through.

"What tha hell…" the captain was dazzled, as was the rest of his crew.

"We can't navigate in this fog, cap'n'…! We oughta git back!" a crew member advised their captain.

"Dammit, I think yer right… Pull back, men! We'll do this next week." the captain commanded and the ship turned back towards the harbor.

Suddenly, the entire crew heard a faint womanly voice singing a mesmerizing tune in the distance. Brainwashed, they stopped the ship and turned back around to face the fog.

"Beautiful…" a sailor gasped out, as if controlled by the melody.

They sailed their ship straight into the fog as the melody became much louder and a very small, seemingly uninhabited island came into view in the dense fog.

"My lady…" the captain sighed to a womanly figure which appeared at the island's shore.

xxx

After 4 days of long travelling from the southern mountain regions of Trinnia, the gang stumbled upon an unusual small lakeside town next to the huge Trinnia Lake. Exhausted, they decided to make a short break in this town and take a swim in the lake.

Max stretched out and sighed contentedly. "Ahh… Finally a normal town, not some crummy little village in the middle of nowhere…" he turned to Trey, "It's been forever since we took an afternoon dip and had some good fun, Trey! Let's take a break here for a while, I wanna swim!"

Trey thought for a second. "Hmm I dunno… We should complete our mission as soon as possible… We shouldn't really be dawdling around lakes having fun."

"Oh shuddup, you party pooper!" Max turned to the rest of the group, "What do you guys think? We've been hiking forever, I seriously want a break."

Amy looked at him quizzically.

Hy hummed. "Well I suppose we could make a short rest. Let's continue to the deserts tomorrow. Is it alright, Trey?"

Trey gazed deeply towards the lake in the distance, a shifty frown.

"Trey?" Hy asked again.

"Oh. Sorry. What is it?" Trey snapped out of it abruptly.

"Should we leave tomorrow? Let's take a day's rest here, it won't do any harm. In fact I think we need it."

Trey narrowed his eyes and gazed at the lake again. "…Sure… I guess…"

"What's up with him?" Max whispered to Hy and Amy.

"He's probably just overworked. Maybe he needs this break more than we do." Hy joked.

"Yeah right. No one needs it more than I do." Max puffed up his cheeks in annoyance.

Amy showed a deeply concerned expression as she gazed at Trey's apparent absence. "Trey…" she murmured, grasping her tear necklace.

xxx

Minutes later, the group all left their backpacks on the small beach at the lakeside and Max and Hy changed to their swimsuits taking a swim in the lake, while Trey and Amy were left sitting by their backpacks to watch out for them, gazing over the lake.

Trey, as usual, carried a deep frown as he was locked in thoughts. Amy observed him with concern from behind. She didn't know how to approach him or what to say. She thought about what Alex said to her, that she should open up her heart to them and bond with them.

"_I…can't connect with them..."_ she thought, _"I've never even had real friends in my life… How can I start just now, and with them…? But Trey…"_ she glanced at him, a tear swiftly welling up in her eyes as she quickly wiped it off, _"We have a mission to complete… I can't let my emotions get in the way of that…! I need to…conserve power to face Notus…! I…"_ tears welled up in her eyes again as she lowered her head in sadness.

"…Amy?" she quickly raised her head at Trey's voice, "Are you okay?"

"Y…Yes…" she wiped her tears off, "It's… It's nothing…"

"Were you thinking about your home world? Hey that's right, you still haven't told us anything about it… I wanna know more about you…" he smiled gently.

"…Well I…" Amy started.

"Hey, lovebirds!" Max shouted from the lake, "Come on in, the water's great! Looks like it'll get dark pretty soon!"

"For crying out loud Max, you know I hate the water! And someone needs to guard the backpacks anyways! Just be quiet and have fun while you're at it!"

Max crossed his arms in an annoyed way. "I swear, one of these days… He's gonna get a vine up that stuck-up ass of his…" he insulted Trey, though jokingly.

Trey shook his head and rolled his eyes at Max. "So Amy…where were we?" he smiled at her, ready to hear the story of her world.

"I'm…the princess of Scorch, as I've told you already… My father, Crimson Scarlet, has been the ruler of my world for 22 years now, along with my mother Flare… We're a peaceful kingdom and only fight to protect our land… Notus came to our world 13 years ago… I was 2 years old at that time. I don't remember anything but my father said that Notus came to steal my life and my powers… Everyone fought him very bravely and eventually managed to push him away, because he was too weak against our world's powerful energy source of fire. The entire planet is covered with a flame energy barrier to protect it from anything that may threaten to harm it. He managed to break through that barrier yet lose a lot of his strength in the process. He caused havoc as much as he could before my people summoned all the power they had to expel him for good. Ever since then, my world has been trying to regain what they lost and renew everything Notus managed to destroy… As well as setting up a perfect defense system to protect Scorch from any more potential intrusions by Notus…which is me. My family carefully raised me and did everything they could to ensure I grow up to be the most powerful being on the planet, one that is no match to Notus' evil influence and control… But, knowing that Notus set his eyes upon a new world that is your own, Sapphire, my father learned that he is trying to gain enough power to resist our world's strong defense and break it, through the means of draining all of Sapphire's natural resources. My father could not stand the fact that the monster is back and invading another sister world, so I have been sent here to oppose him and destroy him before he even gets a chance of setting his vile hands on any more innocent lives… But…" she paused, looking away, "I don't believe I'm strong enough to confront him… I don't believe I'm strong at all…"

Trey frowned, deeply touched by Amy's dark history. "Come on now… That's not true. You're the most powerful out of all of us here. You can single-handedly beat an entire army of the Shadows! We need you to destroy that beast together, and I know we can do it."

Amy gazed deeply at Trey. "I… Thank you… I… Notus is much more powerful, so I…"

"Oi! What are you guys doin' here at this hour?" an unfamiliar voice interrupted the group in their casual activities as they all looked at a girl who appeared out of nowhere, "It's dusk! Don'tcha know yer not supposed to be out by the lake when it's gettin' dark?" the girl warned the group.

Apparently, it looked like she was coming back from fishing as she carried a bag full of fish in one hand, and a large sharp halberd in the other, seemingly what she used to fish with. She was wearing very casual clothes, jean shorts slicked to the top of her bare legs and a simple, tight belly shirt. Her brown hair was straight yet messy and shoulder-length. Something appeared to be shining at the top of where she was holding her halberd but she covered it with her hand. Her serious frown also said she wasn't fooling around and she really wanted them to leave the beach at once.

"Whatcha all doin', starin' at me like that? I told ya, ya gotta get the hell outta here right now, unless ya wanna spend the night sleeping with the fishes!"

The gang all looked at each other and decided to listen to the mysterious girl's strange advice. Max and Hy hastily exited the water with very confused looks, grabbing their clothes from the beach. Trey and Amy stood up.

"Who are you…?" Amy asked the girl quizzically.

"Someone who probably just saved yer lives, ya clueless dopes! Jeez, yer tourists or somethin'? No one in their right mind would be takin' a swim at this time!" she yelled at the gang.

"Well sorry… You're right, we're not from around here… But…why would anyone around here be afraid of swimming during sunset?" Trey asked.

The girl sighed and held her head in an annoyed manner. "I hate outsiders… That's why they always get killed first…" the gang shared looks of fear, "Ok look… I'll take ya to the inn. Ya won't have tah pay or anythin', the owner and I go way back. But… First light in the mornin', yer gonna leave this town. Ya heard me?" the group nodded in unison, "C'mon." she hurried to the inn near the town entrance.

The gang looked at each other again.

"Well someone here has issues…" Max noted, starting to walk towards where the girl went, Hy and Amy following.

Trey sighed and shook his head, picking up his clothes and getting dressed. Just as he started following the others, he heard a strange melodic voice coming from a distance on the lake. Trey slowly turned his head towards the lake, as if mesmerized, staring at the far-away clouds, mouth wide open.

"It's so beautiful…" he sighed it out, and slowly started walking towards the water.

Two seconds later, the sound stopped and Trey snapped out of the trance. He shook his head and looked around, as if trying to figure out what had just happened. He frowned in suspicion and quickly joined the others before they got too far away from him.


	23. Chapter 23 Seduction

**Chapter 2**

"Seduction"

"Oi, Andy. Get a room for these outsiders ready." the mysterious girl told the inn keeper as the gang entered, then she paused and, looking at Amy, continued, "Oh and, make sure there's another room for the girl."

"Got it, Kel." the inn keeper answered as he grabbed two keys from the registry vault, "Rooms 7 and 8, first floor on the left." he handed the keys over to Trey.

"Thanks…" Trey said.

"Kel, eh?" Max asked the girl.

"…Oh that's right, haven't introduced mahself. Kelly Herald, nice tah meetcha. Well then, I guess that's that. See ya in the mornin', if yer all still here." Kelly said as she started walking towards the inn exit.

"Hey wait…!" Trey stopped her and she turned around, "I thought you were going to explain to us what was wrong with this town and swimming in the lake…"

Kelly glanced over at the inn keeper as he sent her a sort of silencing stare back. By the time the gang realized his strange glance, he lowered his head towards the registry book on the counter through a frown. The gang looked back at Kelly.

"Something's seriously wrong here… You need to explain everything you know." Hy told her.

Kelly sighed. "A'ight… Let's go to your rooms."

As they walked towards the stairs, the inn keeper stared at them the entire time.

"So spill it out. Where the hell are we?" Max interrogated Kelly as they sat down on the couch and at the table in the guys' room.

"Well… Tah put it short, this town's cursed."

"In what way, cursed…?" Trey frowned.

"They say whoever takes a swim in the lake at night or tries to cross it for whatever reasons, he'll forever be lost. That's because no one really knows exactly how deep the lake is, and sometimes, exactly how big. During the day, everythin''s normal, but at night…the lake has a soul of its own."

"So is that just an old wives' tale, or is it actually real?" Hy asked.

"No one's really sure. Some people've been reported missin' a while back so people started takin' it seriously… But there 'aven't exactly been any alike casualties lately, so…it coulda just as well been a rumor based on some typical and ordinary accidents you come across from time to time. Everyone's too scared tah try and prove it."

"Doesn't really sound much of a big deal to me… So what, some people end up missing in a huge lake, that's no reason to ban swimming during nighttime or anything." Max noted.

"Yer probably right, but… A few people went out to cross the lake before durin' crazy weather, either a heavy storm or dense fog and…a lot of 'em said they saw a strange small island around the middle of the lake…and believe it or not, a mermaid swimming around it as well."

"That's strange. I thought all mermaids lived on the Isle of Ryvel on the great Lassa Ocean… At least that's what I've heard from my people." Hy pondered.

"Yer right, they only live there. Quite a lot of 'em, too, but…for one to come all the way here, and into a lake, would probably mean she had to cross the lands to get there first, so…I'm not sure what it could possibly even be if not a mermaid."

"And everyone believed that?" Trey questioned.

"At first, the people who said that were called liars and idiots…also drunkards most of the time, they were sailors after all. But…that's also around the time the disappearances started, and everyone slowly started believin' the rumors while fearin' the secrets of the lake. It's more than possible. With the stories about the moon going wild and all that jazz, wouldn't be surprisin'."

"Probably…" Trey hummed, "Well I guess we'll leave tomorrow then if you really wanted us to… We were just passing by here anyways."

"A'ight. That'd be best for all of ya. Wouldn't want the disappearances tah come back after that long and tah start with you guys…" she laughed, heading for the door, "Sleep tight, don't let the mermaids bite." she winked at them, smirking jokingly.

Max yawned loudly. "Man, taking a small dip in the shoal of a lake sure is exhausting… And oh yeah, hiking day and night looking for dark crystals too." he stretched.

"Let's all get some good sleep tonight and get up early. Try to get to the desert as soon as possible." Hy advised as he got up from the table and headed for his bed.

"Amy, your room's right next door." Trey smiled at her.

"Yes… Good night…" she quietly answered and left the room, shy as ever.

Trey narrowed his eyes in a sweet smile as he walked over to his bed as well.

xxx

A few hours later, around 11 at night, Trey had a terrible nightmare that ended waking him up after restlessly turning around and sweating all over his bed.

He jumped, panting heavily and wiping the sweat off his face. "Oh God, what the hell was that…?" he looked over to Max and Hy's beds, seeing them still sound asleep.

He sighed and lowered his head, when all of a sudden the melodic voice he heard at the shore started singing to him again.

He jumped again, face white with fear. "Oh no…! Not a…gai…" his voice drifted off as his mind was brainwashed by the sound again, eyes empty like a doll's.

He got up from his bed and, as if guided, exited the room, went down the stairs, unlocked the front gate of the inn and started heading towards the lake. Just at that time, Kelly was heading home as she passed by the inn, noticing Trey.

"Hey…! Yer…Trey, right? Whatcha up to?" he kept walking directly towards the shore, not even bothering to turn around at the sound of Kelly's voice, "…Oi! Get back here! It's dangerous at the lake this time of night, I told ya! Oi!" she dropped the halberd she was holding in her hand and ran after Trey.

Right at the shore and on the sand, Kelly ran up to Trey and attempted to hold him by the hand. "Oi, I told you, stay away from the…" just as she caught his arm, an immense blue shockwave repelled her and sent her flying to the ground in a second.

She fell down, holding herself by her arm in pain, watching in shock as Trey walked right into the water and kept going deeper, eventually out of sight as he was led by the powerful magic of the siren voice. Kelly froze. Barely regaining her composure a few seconds later, she jumped up and ran towards the inn to wake up the rest of Trey's travelling group, occasionally turning her head around as she ran to see whether Trey would suddenly immerge from the lake or not. Running into the inn, she grabbed her discarded halberd.

She crashed into the boys' room. "Get up, all of ya! Quick! Yer friend's been caught by the mermaid!" she panted as the boys jumped in their beds, gazing at her quizzically.


	24. Chapter 24 Song of Love and Hatred

**Chapter 3**

"Song of Love and Hatred"

"I don't understand. You're saying you saw Trey casually stroll into a gigantic lake and disappear following some creepy siren scream?" Max was dumbstruck and crept out.

"Right! I already told ya about all the mermaid tales, I just got assured. I got no clue how much time we 'ave before somethin' 'appens to 'im." she panicked a bit, it was obvious she cared.

"Thanks for letting us know…" Hy confirmed, "We appreciate the help but…why would you put yourself through all of that? I think we…" he shared looks with the others, "…can take care of ourselves. We'd only be putting you in danger as well."

"Oh please. Dun worry 'bout me, I got lots tah show around. But…in a way, I kinda feel responsible fer ya guys in this town. If somethin' were tah happen to ya, I just couldn't face it." she hoisted her halberd across her shoulder, "Besides, I'm positive I can find ya the way to that mermaid's hidin' ground. We should hurry."

They got to the lake and took a small boat that was docked at the shore. Hy and Max each took an oar and started paddling towards the center of the lake as Amy sat down at the back of the boat and Kelly stood at its front, gazing at the distance. They set off and sailed for around 10 minutes before Kelly noticed she had no idea precisely where on the lake they were. The fog was incredibly dense and the water blurry.

"Uhh… I think it should be somewhere around this way…" she said unconfidently, raising annoyance from the others.

Max sighed. "You said you knew where we're supposed to go, we can't paddle for much longer… At this rate we won't be able to find our way back either."

"Well I'm sorry… There was always that one spot in the lake where ya could feel the water an' air bein' different than the rest of it. But it's tough findin' yer way in this damned fog."

"You should've thought about that before setting off for Captain Nemo's ghost ship. What the heck are we supposed to do in this stupid fog now?"

Amy stood up. "Quiet…" she looked around the lake cautiously.

"What is it? Did you hear something?" Hy asked her.

"I…" she closed her eyes, focusing on the sound she was hearing. It almost resembled melodic singing, but it sounded a lot more seductive. "A melody… Can you hear it…?"

The others looked around.

"I don't hear anything." Max stated.

"…That way…" Amy pointed towards the source of the melody, "Sail that way…"

The boys immediately grabbed the oars and rotated the boat towards the way Amy pointed. After a while, the melody became louder for Amy but the others still couldn't hear anything. That's when a small island shaped in the fog and the boat docked. They all got out and Amy immediately pointed towards the exact spot the sound she heard was coming from. The others shared worrying looks. They circled the small island and found a cavern leading towards the depth of the island and into the lake's level. They walked down the grotto path as Amy got washed over with the melody and got dizzy. Hy supported her from falling.

"Are you alright?" he asked her as the others stopped and watched her.

"…Yes… I'm fine… Let's go." she kept walking, though still a little woozy.

Eventually they arrived to a giant chamber flooded by an underground lake. In the middle of the lake was a small island clearing and on it, a strange creature resembling a mermaid was doing something to Trey. Along the walls it looked as though men were glued on in some sort of sticky saliva substance, on the verge of death.

"…Oh…God…" Max was shocked at the sight.

Amy frowned and started panting heavily. "Trey…"

Trey was sitting down at the small island clearing, gazing deeply at the creature bent over him, bare-chested as the mermaid held her hand on his chest emitting strange psychic waves over his body and sang a mesmerizing song to him.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Hy shouted angrily.

"Get your slimy hands off my buddy, you disgusting overgrown sardine!" Max yelled as he tried to raise an array of spiked earth columns towards the mermaid but he couldn't.

At this point they were drawn to the mermaid's attention as she pushed Trey away from her, throwing him to the ground just next to the lake water. He remained brainwashed. Her woman-like face swiftly shifted to one gross and frightening, of an actual sea monster. It shrieked angrily at them.

"…Why aren't my powers working?" Max gazed at his hands.

"…Powers…?" Kelly was confused.

"This is a lake, there's no earth here… Just water…! There are no wind currents either, I can't use my powers of air…" Hy pointed out.

"What're ya guys talkin' 'bout?" Kelly got lost in the conversation.

"That's why we told you it would be too dangerous to come with us… We're the Warriors of Light." Hy tried to explain quickly.

Kelly's eyes widened. "Holy crap! I've heard about ya!"

"No time to chit-chat, Trey's getting his life sucked out of him!" Max shouted.

"…Leave him…alone…" Amy still panted heavily as a small and weak vortex of fire started swirling around her body.

The boys stepped back and Kelly jumped, falling down on the ground.

Amy slightly raised her hands aside her body as if in a summoning pose, when a giant tornado of fire enveloped the creature's body. It hissed and shrieked again as it quickly regained its composure and sent a chilling air that coated the blazing flames, spiraling upwards and freezing the fire solid, then swiftly breaking the ice as it crumbled to the ground, completely extinguishing the fire.

Amy gasped. The monster telekinetically raised the fallen ice shards from the ground and sent them flying directly at Amy, who jumped to the side as fast as she could, along with the boys right next to her as Kelly rolled further away.

Max growled. "Stupid fish!" he separated a part of the cave stone from the ceiling above the mermaid and dropped it down on it as the creature dodged into the underground lake.

The stones fell down just a bit away from Trey.

"Max! Be careful! You can't use your powers here, you could collapse this whole cave down on us!" Hy advised him.

"Crap, and I almost hit Trey! We need to get him away from there!"

At that moment the creature gushed out of the water and jumped directly at Amy. Kelly, in her fear, raised her hands in front of her face and that's when a heavy stream of water sprained from her hands and forcefully sent the mermaid flying into the cave wall. Kelly was in shock as she gazed into her hands and the others stared at her in surprise.

"How… What the…" Max tried to think up an explanation but to no avail.

That's when Hy noticed Trey was slowly slipping into the lake. "Look! Trey!"

"Oh no, he can't swim! And he's still under the mermaid's influence…! Take care of this thing, I'll get him out." he took his shirt off and dived into the underground lake as Trey already slipped in and started sinking, still mesmerized.

The creature regained its composure and started getting up as Kelly was still frozen in her tracks. It focused on Amy again and hurled its monstrous tail at her as she jumped back and fell, dodging it.

"Kelly, you're the fifth Warrior of Light, the keeper of water!" Hy tried to encourage her to fight alongside them, "We can't do anything against this thing, please do something!"

"I… How am I…" she tried to find meaning in this strange situation, "What am I supposed to…"

The mermaid telekinetically raised Amy into the air as she struggled to free herself but without luck. At that moment Max swam out of the lake with Trey, who was still brainwashed, eyes those of a doll's.

"Come on Trey, snap out of it, we need you here!" Max tried to shake Trey out of his trance, but to no use.

Hy grabbed Kelly by her arms. "None of us found any sense or meaning to how we got our powers and why we were chosen either. We still don't understand. But it's okay since we have a mission to complete and something to fight for. We can't do it on our own and we need your help. Just focus and concentrate and you'll control your power easily. Just try." he calmed her as she nodded slowly.

She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. Upon opening them, she stared angrily at the monster and exhaled loudly, blasting a geyser at the mermaid and sending it down to the ground once again, its grip on Amy loosening when she fell, gasping for air.

"Kelly, snap Trey out of it!" Max commanded her.

She focused again and sent a cold rush of water into Trey's face, knocking him back and breaking the mermaid's spell as he coughed the water out, panting.

"What the hell…" he wondered, gaining his composure.

"No time for recaps. Blast that sucker away!" Max pointed towards the mermaid monster lying against the cave wall.

Trey stood up, charging his body with an electric current then blasting it at the creature with full force, frying it with electricity.

Everyone gasped and panted, hardly believing what scene just took place in that cave.

"God… We need to get paid for these sorts of things…" Max noted, "What now?"

"Yeah, what are we going to do about all that…?" Hy looked around the cave at the unfortunate souls trapped in the mermaid's trap, hanging helplessly all over the walls.

"We'll hafta get the town patrol down here and have 'em take care of all this…" Kelly explained, "I've no clue what the heck I'm even gonna tell 'em…" she was still finding logic in the whole process.

"I still don't understand what this thing wanted… Better yet, why go for Trey…" Max questioned.

"…Because he's in love." Hy concluded, "It feeds on that emotion. Notice how it never even paid attention to the rest of us, just went straight for Amy? It's because it knew exactly what to focus on – the cause of Trey's feelings, and get rid of it. Obviously that's what happened to these poor chaps as well."

Trey and Amy shared deep, meaningful looks as they still panted and gasped for air after this dramatic experience.

"Say… You don't think that…this thing…made some…kid versions of itself too, from all these…guys…?" Max asked hesitantly.

"…We can only hope not. This whole lake needs to be thoroughly inspected, that's for sure…" Hy answered.

Kelly still closely observed her hands and wondered why all that had to happen to her.

xxx

Around noon the next day, the gang checked out of the inn they stayed in the previous night and rounded up in front of it. As they were getting ready to leave the town, Kelly ran up to them, carrying a backpack on her back and her precious halberd in her hand, propped across her shoulder.

"Oi! Gettin' ready tah leave, aren't ya." she asked them with a smile on her face.

"Yeah… We need to get to the desert realm north of Trinnia… There's supposedly something there important to us." Trey explained to her.

Hy laughed. "I think it's safe to tell her exactly what we're off to get." he turned to her, "You'd like to join us, I believe." he smirked.

"Yeah… I guess ya guys need me after all, bein' the fifth Power Ranger an' all…"

"Of course. We would've come for you anyways since we need to stick together." Hy chuckled.

That's when Trey noticed the jewel engraving everyone in the group had embedded on their weapons was present on Kelly's halberd as well. "Ah, it is the jewel after all… I knew there was something strange with that halberd of yours ever since I saw it shining back at the beach when we met you. Guess we should've figured you're one of us a lot sooner than we did, with the whole Rescue Trey incident that went on…" he chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

Kelly smiled and observed the jewel on her beloved weapon. "Yeah… This 'ere 'alberd of mine's somethin' like a family heirloom… My mom passed it on to me years back. I'd never dream of goin' anywhere without it."

Hy laughed lightly. "It appears as though being an elemental keeper is most certainly genetic, with all of us having Warrior of Light blood running in the family."

"Either way, it's always good to have our numbers grow by one more." Trey winked assuredly, "Welcome to the group."

"Yeah, yeah…whoopdedo, another yappy mouth to feed and an extra bed to pay for in an inn. Ugh, more trouble than good with our little band of merry fellows…" Max lowered his head in protest of having an addition to their group as Trey and Hy rolled eyes and sighed, shaking their heads and quietly laughing.

"Hahaa, yer a feisty one, ain't ya!" Kelly chuckled at Max, slightly teasing him, "Ya look so cute when ya pout like that! I just noticed it now…" she jumped up to him, smiling directly into his face.

Max jumped back a little. "Wh…Wha?" Kelly started creeping him out a bit.

She chuckled through a grin. "I like funny guys like you… I just wanna grab ya and squeeze ya into a hug and never let go!" she did exactly what she said, grabbing Max with both arms and hugging him very tightly as Max went stiff in fear of the crazy girl.

He pushed her off of him, jumping back further more. "…The heck, weirdo? What's that all about? What are you doing?" he held himself by his knees, gasping for air as Kelly slowly approached him again.

"Heeey, what's the matter…? Ya dun like me…? But yer so cute, helpless like that…!" she taunted him.

Max's face went into a look of panic, sweat drops washing over him. "Errr guys…? Lil' help…?" he slowly walked back towards the town exit as Kelly walked after him, a sweet smile with closed eyes never escaping her face, hands tied behind her back in a cute, pleading gesture.

"Why should we? You've got it all under control by running away like that…" Trey chuckled, teasing him as Hy laughed along.

"C'mon Maxie-cutie, gimme a big hug!" Kelly spread her arms wide, still walking towards Max who screamed in fear and ran through the town gates, Kelly running after him.

Trey and Hy burst into laughter as Amy watched from the back and quietly chuckled along.

"Oh man… Never a dull moment with that kid…" Trey laughed.

"Indeed… Come on, we'll lose them." Hy grabbed his backpack straps and followed the two.

Trey held Amy by her hand and smiled sweetly at her, starting to walk and gently pulling her with him. "Let's get going!"

Amy smiled lightly at him. "Yes…"

He still held her hand as they walked further behind the others and Amy kept smiling, thinking to herself. _"Maybe the Council Priest was right… I…suppose I should trust them and explain to them more about where I come from…"_ she closed her eyes, head lowered and the smile still apparent on her face, _"Hold on, Father… I'll come back one day, after the mission has been completed…"_

**End of Episode Six**


	25. Chapter 25 Mirage

**Episode Seven**

"Burning Goddesses"

**Chapter 1**

"Mirage"

Three days after having Kelly, the water guardian, join the Warriors of Light, they approached the destination of the next dark crystal of Notus' they were supposed to retrieve. They stumbled upon a giant, vast, desolate desert to the north of the Trinnia realm of Sapphire's world. They walked around the sands for a few hours, constantly gazing at the map that indicated where the crystal was compared to their current location. The light orb on the map kept showing the exact spot they were at, but apparently nothing was around them but an ocean of sand and the Moon's burning rays.

"This is pointless… That stupid paper is broken or something, there's nothing here! No wonder the map's so ancient when it was made by a bunch of geezers with dried out brain cells." Max vented, frustrated by the burning Moon's torture.

"Come on Max, there must be something around here… Your own grandpa told us to trust the map." Trey consulted him as he observed the map once more.

"Oh yeah, and he's totally younger now than they were when they made the map." he pointed out sarcastically, "We're wasting our time here, I'm burning up."

"As much as it pains me to admit, Max might be on to something…" Hy agreed, "We've been walking around here for too long and there's nothing in sight even though the map seems to be telling us we're on the right place… There must be something wrong."

"I'm so thirsty and I dun think mah water powers're gonna do much help for much longer…" Kelly complained when she cupped her hands together and a very small fountain of water splashed from her palms as she drank it quickly.

"Come on Kelly, stay focused… We already drank all of our water; you're our only supply now. We need to keep going; the map couldn't possibly be a fake." Trey determined.

"…You're just going to kill us all, you know that?" Max sighed.

"Don't worry Maxie! I'll happily die at your side!" Kelly jumped on Max's back and hugged him tightly, a wide sweet smile on her face.

Max's face turned red with annoyance as he growled very quietly. "Great… Ain't I a lucky bastard."

Amy grasped her tear necklace as she stopped walking. "Wait… I feel…a strange powerful presence…"

The others stopped as well. "What's wrong, Amy?" Trey asked.

Amy closed her eyes and raised her necklace into the air as a blinding light emitted by it spread across the desert. A moment later, strange buildings slowly faded into sight behind the group, revealing a lost, Arabian-like city of sorts. The gang gazed in wonder.

"My amulet can lift these kinds of spells. It is a powerful cloaking magic nothing else can break. But…I only know of one type of magicians that can make something like this…and they're not human…"

"What do you mean by that?" Hy questioned.

"…It's the work…of a God." Amy explained as the others showed shocked expressions.

xxx

The Warriors explored the desert city as they walked down the street leading towards the heart of the city, strange people that apparently inhabited this bizarre town gazed at the Warriors with shock and fear, wondering what these intruders might possibly want and how they got there. The gang didn't feel comfortable either as they kept walking, glancing at all the staring crowd at the sides of the street, prepared to defend themselves from a sudden attack if necessary. A man from the crowd suddenly jumped and ran towards somewhere in the deeper part of the city.

"What kind of place is this…?" Hy whispered to the rest of the group while the citizens gossiped quietly.

"What's going on here?" Max asked, "Where did we just end up?"

"I dun have a good feelin' 'bout this town…" Kelly advised cautiously.

A moment later, the same man who ran from the crowd came back and stood before the Warriors.

"…P…Please…come with me." he stuttered.

"Sorry, but come where?" Trey alertly asked.

"The Mistress…wishes to speak with you."

"…The presence…" Amy whispered, "…We should go, Trey." she advised him.

Trey looked at her and narrowed his eyes, looking back at the man. "Lead the way…"

The man nodded with insecure haste, leaning his entire body. "Y…Yes. This way…follow me." he walked towards the center of the city with a quick step as the gang followed.

As they walked, Amy, who was in the back, glanced behind her at the citizens who stayed to gawk at the newcomers, wondering why they would be so frightened and if this situation as well had something to do with the very evil they're fighting against.

They walked to the end of the street that led to a huge building resembling a sort of temple or shrine, decorated with gold and with lion and phoenix statues stationed in front of the entrance. They walked inside into a long corridor with small waterfalls flowing from lions' mouths at the sides of the pathway and a fountain in the shape of a phoenix's body with the flowing water forming its wings placed at the end of the corridor. Behind the fountain was a door the nervous man opened, gesturing the group to enter as he entered as well and closed the doors behind them.

"Please wait here." he said as he went to the other side of the chamber they were in.

The chamber resembled some sort of miniature ballroom with numerous columns supporting the ceiling and a small set of stairs leading to a balcony from two sides. The man entered the room that was on the balcony, remaining there for a few minutes.

"What are they gonna do to us?" Max broke the silence.

"I have no idea…" Trey attempted to answer, "But I can tell we're not wanted here."

"I agree…" Hy said, "We seem to be getting a very unusual, cold treatment in this strange city. They probably wonder what business we must have here."

"But whatever we do, we can't let them know we're here looking for crystals." Trey advised, "It'll raise even more suspicion and probably hostility towards us. After all, we don't know them either to be able to trust them." he looked at the map one more time, noticing the light dot was still shining exactly where they were standing as he frowned.

"Yeah… We should just find the crystal as soon as possible and get the hell out of here. We don't need to stay." Max stated.

Everyone nodded.

The doors on the balcony opened as Amy suddenly gasped quietly. The man entered the chamber and knelt on one leg beside the door. The sound of heels walking towards the chamber started breaking the silence, louder and louder, until a figure appeared in the door frame. A tall woman wearing a crimson red priest garb entered the room, long coal-black hair flowing from her head.

"…Mistress…Amelia…!" the man announced the woman's arrival as she spread her arms warmly, a welcoming smile on her face.

"Welcome…dear visitors…! Welcome to our beautiful city of Aruna…" she greeted the Warriors.

xxx

The group gazed at the strange woman before them when she lowered her hands and calmly sent her servant away as he nodded and quickly stood up, swiftly walking down the stairs and out of the chamber, not once making eye contact with the Warriors, extreme nervousness overwhelming him. The Warriors kept quiet as the woman spoke.

"Well…I must say I am surprised we even have visitors. It's wonderful, yet strange… I was certain I put a cloaking spell over my beautiful city." she watched them for a few seconds, continuing, "Would you mind telling me…how you've come to find this place?"

"With the help of her magic amulet." Trey answered, gesturing Amy's tear necklace as Amy frowned and narrowed her eyes.

"I see…" Amelia started, "With magic…" she slowly walked down the stairs, "Is there…some business you wish to attend with us, perhaps?"

"I'm afraid we can't really give you an answer to that question…" Trey said, trying to avoid mentioning their search for the crystals.

"I see…" Amelia said once again, "Surely there is something that led you here, yet…I mean not interfere with any of your plans, however…I cannot simply allow you to run freely in this magnificent city of Aruna… Do you understand what I mean?"

Trey narrowed his eyes slightly. "Of course, Miss…"

She walked down the stairs and kept slowly approaching the Warriors. "Very good, I see that we will have no problems with communicating!" she cheerfully said, "Surely your journey to this wonderful city must have been tiresome… I insist that you rest in our guest quarters. My servant Thrann will see that you are comfortable. I believe you've met him."

"Yes… Thank you…" Trey cautiously replied.

"Very good!" Amelia cheerfully exclaimed again, "Please have a good night's sleep. Thrann will be waiting for you outside my Shrine. We can discuss anything you wish tomorrow." she stood in front of the gang, "Is that alright?"

"…Yes. Pleased to meet your acquaintance, Miss." Trey politely said as he gestured the others to exit the chamber.

Amy grasped her necklace as she nervously frowned at Amelia while the others were preparing to leave. As Amelia watched the others exit, her gaze immediately switched to Amy, darkness and hatred emanating from her eyes. Amy sharply gasped as the hand that held her necklace shook. Amelia smiled sweetly at her and slowly left the chamber.

Amy gasped heavily for a few moments, regaining her composure from the strange confrontation between her and Amelia, eventually joining the others outside the chamber.

"Well that was weird on so many levels." Max noted.

"Yeah… A lot of shifty things seem to be happening in this so-called city…" Trey reasoned.

Amy gazed into the ground deeply, still grasping her tear necklace. "Amy…is everything alright?" Hy asked her.

"That woman… That woman is not what she claims to be. I feel an overwhelming aura of evil around her…"

The boys looked at each other as Kelly narrowed her eyes. "Ya know… Ya might be on ta somethin'… Guess only us gals notice what a witch she is, eh… I dun like her one bit."

"I guess she's just very protective of her city or something?" Hy added.

"Yes but… That's not… That's not all. She's a lot more than what she appears to be, as well. Most certainly not someone to be taken lightly…" Amy advised.

Trey sighed worriedly. "We should probably get to our quarters and not raise much suspicion for a while. We'll plan something out on how to find the crystal later. Avoid contacts with the residents if you can, along with that Amelia woman."

Everyone nodded and started walking to the exit of the building as a man cloaked in the shadows smirked, running to the other direction.


	26. Chapter 26 Imposter

**Chapter 2**

"Imposter"

"Have a nice rest everyone, this is where you'll be staying by Miss Amelia's request." Amelia's servant Thrann guided the Warriors to the guest quarters, a small structure just a few buildings away from Amelia's Shrine, "You can take two separate rooms, one for the boys and one for the girls. If there is anything you might need, don't hesitate to ask the city guards, I'll come to your aid. Now if you'll excuse me…" Thrann bowed politely and started leaving, when Trey interrupted him, requiring information.

"I'm sorry… That woman, Amelia… Could you tell us something more about her?" the gang shared cautious looks, as Thrann cleared his throat a bit nervously.

"Whatever do you mean?" Thrann flashed a feeble grin.

"Is she doing a good job running this city?" Trey continued the questioning.

"Why yes, of course!" Thrann sweated a bit, "The Mistress is…a bit strict at times, but…I suppose that can't be helped, running an entire city by herself…" the gang noticed Thrann talking about her with apparent fear, but he was trying hard to hide it, "We're all grateful to her for all she has done for us!" he raised his voice a little, showing respect, "Now please excuse me, I must be going." he rushed out of the guest quarters.

"Faithful to the very end, eh." Max noted, jokingly.

"I don't think even the very townspeople she leads think she's all that perfect." Trey pondered.

"Well at least they're givin' us a warm treatment." Kelly narrowed a brow, "Wonder how long that'll last…"

"Friendly or not, I still don't like it." Hy worried.

"They obviously have skeletons in their closets. Or at the very least, some crystals." Max said, "How are we possibly gonna find it when they all have their fat noses pointed directly at us? Did ya see the way everyone looked at us when we first showed up here? Like we were being sent to the bonfire."

Trey thought deeply, working up a sturdy strategy.

"Hey Brainstorm, any bright ideas?" Max teased Trey.

"Barely…" Trey admitted, looking at Amy, "So you said that Amelia woman is a goddess?"

"I… I don't know… I don't think she is, but…there is something overwhelming about her… A power… It's not within normal parameters."

Trey hummed.

"But what does that mean? If she's not a God, then…" Max started.

"…An imposter posing as one?" Hy finished.

"Where are her powers comin' from, then?" Kelly asked.

"Good question." Trey said, "How do we find out more about her without raising suspicion…?"

"Man, where the hell is grandpa when you actually need him…" Max sighed in an annoyed tone.

"Yeah I know… I guess we'll just have to do this without his help for once." Trey frowned, "But what about the crystal… The map doesn't show its pinpoint location, just the area it's in…"

Kelly jumped. "I'll go look for it!"

"Whoa, how do you possibly plan on doing that without failing?" Max teased her.

"Aww dun worry 'bout lil' ol' me, Maxie!" she hugged him tight, "If I just think about comin' back ta see ya, there's nothin' I won't find with ease!"

Max grunted. "Ugh… I shoulda just shut my trap."

"Where do you plan on starting?" Trey asked Kelly.

"Whaddaya think? Amelia's Shrine, of course…"

"You think the crystal is there?" Trey asked her again.

"Trust me. She's keepin' a watchful eye on it probably right as we speak. I'll just sneak into the place at night."

"I'm not too sure about the idea…" Trey warned her.

"Ahh dun worry 'bout me, I'll be fine. Ya guys just get some sleep, I'll do the bustin'." she laughed confidently.

"Well if you say so… Be careful in there. If you run into that crazy woman…I don't wanna begin to think what she might be capable of."

"I'm not exactly defenseless, heh." Kelly kept bursting with confidence, grabbing her trusty halberd and stomping it proudly on the ground.

"Please…" Amy started, taking her necklace off, passing it to Kelly, "Take my amulet… You should use it to move around the Shrine more easily. Use its power for whatever you may need."

"Hey thanks." Kelly took the amulet, putting it around her neck, "Hope I'll know how ta use it."

"It will channel your strength into its use. Whatever you wish for, it will do. The effect won't last forever, though. Use it with caution…" Amy advised her further.

"Got it. Nifty lil' toy ya got!" she chuckled jokingly as she ran out of the guest quarters, "I'll go look around some before nightfall. Later!"

"Gee, ain't she the perfect heroine… What got into her?" Max discussed Kelly's strangely enthusiastic behavior.

"I've no idea…" Trey shrugged in wonder, "But come to think of it, she might be the perfect person to find the water crystal with the powers she has!" Trey smiled.

"…Or we might be wrong and the powers of the crystal can be used against her… Like with Amy." Hy warned, resulting in an eerie feeling filling up the room along with silence.

Amy narrowed her eyes in sadness and worry, grasping a piece of her clothing which covered her heart. _"Is it possible that she could be…the one that…? I wish you could help me now, Father…"_ she thought deeply.

xxx

The evening came a few hours later. Kelly had used this time to try and gain some information about the history of the city and its unusual settlement and happenings. The people were showing maximum conservative behavior and Kelly realized they would never share anything with her no matter how hard she kept trying. Eventually, she gave up and attempted to lay low until night fell, when she would hide away from others' sight and lie in wait for the streets to become empty. As the guards stationed in front of the Shrine began their shifts, Kelly used this opportunity to keep to the shadows and the walls and sneak inside. It seemed too easy, for it appeared as though the security in the city was generally low since no one dared to oppose Mistress Amelia and her leadership. Once inside, Kelly found the place without any guards, completely unprotected. She had a strange feeling, yet she neglected it and smirked as she roamed around the Shrine freely. She found herself in the same chamber the Warriors were greeted in by Amelia earlier that day. She looked at the other side of the room and noticed the huge door Amelia had passed through earlier to get into the audience chamber was shut tight. She grasped Amy's amulet around her neck.

"Hmm… I wonder just how useful this trinket really is…" she whispered to herself, "It came from another freakin' planet, so it must be bustin' with power, heh." she ran quietly up the stairs to the giant door.

She raised the necklace towards the door and waited a couple of seconds. She raised an eyebrow. "Uhh… Open Sesame? …Now what?"

At that moment the amulet glowed and the gate started shaking. Kelly jumped a bit, but recovered as the gate fully opened with a slight banging noise.

"Not exactly what ya'd call stealthy infiltration, Kelly ol' gal…" she scolded herself for making such a racket, but ran into the following chamber nonetheless.

A lengthy, narrow, dark, empty corridor stretched out from the door into the following room. The room was huge, bright and with completely gold walls all around. But it was empty for some reason. It looked almost festive, but that obviously wasn't the case, being only decorated to resemble such. Kelly made a disappointed and astonished face.

"What the… That's it? That's her dark secret, a stupid empty hallway? I was expectin' a torture room with skeletons hangin' chained from the walls or somethin'! What a waste of time gettin' all this far." she sighed and hung her head in disappointment.

"I wouldn't really say it was a complete waste of time, my dear…" Amelia's voice startled Kelly from behind as she immediately spun around, a shocked expression washing over her face.

Amelia swiftly raised one hand just up to Kelly's face, her figure appearing demonic and her voice shifting into a sadistic one. "Then again you and your little friends wasted far too much time into disrupting my paradise with your presence!"

A flame started circling around Amelia's hand as Kelly screamed with all her might.

xxx

The following morning, Trey woke up in the guest quarters and after yawning, stretching and dressing up while noticing Max and Hy were still sound asleep, he walked out of the boys' room and knocked on the girls' room just next door. A second later, Amy opened the door, already dressed.

"Oh…already up?" Trey smiled at her, to which she politely nodded, "Is Kelly awake? I guess she didn't want to bother us with information on the crystal while we were sleeping…"

"She's not in here…so I'm not certain." Amy explained, after getting a quick reassuring look around her room.

"Really? Well did she even come back after her exploration last night?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know. I was sleeping this entire time…" she suddenly yawned.

"Yeah, I know… We all crashed like dead last night, too. Not even a parade marching through the hall could've woken us up…" he rubbed sand out of his eyes, "But that's weird, where could Kelly be, then? You think she got up before all of us and went to have breakfast by herself or something?"

"Wouldn't she have woken us up first, though…?" Amy puzzled.

"I know, it's weird… I hope she went through tonight's infiltration alright…" he walked back to the boys' room, turning his head to Amy once more, "Come on, let's go get something to eat. And hope the townspeople don't give us the silent treatment again… Kelly should turn up around eventually."

A few moments later, the gang headed out of their quarters and to the nearest dining place.

"Man, these were definitely the best guest quarters we've had to stay in so far… I slept like slain!" Max stretched out with all his might.

"Tell me about it…" Trey agreed, "Some fancy place they got in this town. But it looks like Kelly either didn't come back last night or headed out early without us this morning. You guys heard anything while you were sleeping?"

"No, sorry. Where could she be?" Hy asked.

"Ehh, we could do without that annoying pesterer for a while…" Max felt relieved in a sarcastic tone.

"Cut it out, Max. Your new girlfriend or not, she's a valuable member of our team." Trey teased him a little.

"Yeah, fine… And HEY! She is NOT my girlfriend, so shut up!" Max kicked Trey lightly in the back of his leg, to which Trey quietly chuckled.

"Why don't we ask some of the people around if anyone has seen her?" Hy concluded.

"You really think they'd be willing to share anything with us after just a day being here?" Max realized.

"Yeah probably not…" Trey thought, "We need to find her either way. And try not to raise too much suspicion around…"

"Well that's gonna be fun. I don't like spending any more time in this city fearing they might throw us on a bonfire, and now we need to find that reckless brat…" Max sighed as the group entered a restaurant, sitting down at a table.

Shortly after, they ordered their meals and began having breakfast, all while avoiding strange glares and stares directed towards them from the rest of the people in the restaurant. At that moment two men entered the restaurant and sat at the bar, chattering.

"Can you believe those weird guys that showed up here yesterday?" the men talked quietly, but loud enough for the gang to hear them from the nearby table.

The gang stopped eating for a second and, trying not to raise too much suspicion by acting like they were paying full attention to the men talking, they glanced over their shoulders and directed all senses to the conversation. The chatter went on.

"Yeah who the heck are they supposed to be, anyways?" the other man said, all the while not noticing the gang was sitting at the table just next to them, "And where did they come from? I thought Mistress Amelia shielded us from everything that could come from the outside and provided everything we need to live right here."

"Well yeah but…I guess the crystal isn't all that dependant or something." that sentence caused sharp stares between each other in the gang.

"They're aware of the crystal's location…" Max whispered to the rest of the group.

"Looks like it…" Trey hummed, "They're hiding far too many things in this little town."

The conversation continued. "What does the Mistress plan on doing now that the city's been discovered and breached?"

"No idea. I hope it's not a bad sign of more people storming in and doing what they want with the city… If that crystal gets stolen, what's gonna happen to the town? It provides us with all that water… We would probably not survive."

"…Water?" Amy asked the others, to which they cautiously nodded, realizing the water crystal is the one hidden in Aruna.

"I don't even wanna begin to think about that…" they talked on.

"Well, maybe the Mistress can get to the bottom of all this eventually… I mean didn't she catch one of them lurking around the place just a while ago?"

The gang all jumped in surprise.

"Oh yeah that's right… What was that crazy girl doing?"

"Beats me… What do you think the Mistress is going to do to her?"

"Dunno… I think I heard something having to do with the crystal… I really haven't a clue. Something was supposed to start at the town square just about now."

The Warriors all threw away everything they were doing and eating at that time and rushed out of the restaurant, drawing worried and frightened looks from the rest of the townsfolk inside. The two men shared guilty looks, as if they realized that what they talked about should never have happened.

The gang ran to Amelia's Shrine at the town square and saw a larger group of people all gathered around something. They tried to break through the crowd and saw Kelly kneeling down on the ground, barely conscious, tight ropes binding her hands held behind her back. Amelia stood behind her in front of her Shrine, an evil smirk on her face.

"Kelly! What have you done to her, witch?" Trey shouted, drawing his sword prepared to battle if necessary.

The others prepared their weapons as well, as the townsfolk gasped loudly and walked back to avoid any unpleasant contact between Amelia and the Warriors, chattering between each other in frightened tones. The gang growled at Amelia, to which she calmly laughed. She threw Amy's necklace that she had previously removed from Kelly's possession and Amy caught it, gazing at it quizzically for a moment, and then putting it back to its rightful place around her neck. She raised her view towards Amelia again with an angered gaze.

"I don't like the fact that you just calmly infiltrated my city without ever thinking I would discover your little plans, and now to make things even more interesting, this peasant girl had the nerve to try and break into my Shrine. You dare defy me? I am a Goddess! I have the power to end your miserable lives, do you not realize that?" she became furious, as she held her arms sideways, flames circling around her hands.

"…You? You are not a Goddess!" Amy stepped forth, opposing the imposturous Amelia, whose face frowned angrily, "How can you lie to these innocent people so much? You're just an enraged Empress who failed to overthrow my father from his throne!" Amelia narrowed her eyes and hummed sharply, smirking lightly as both the townsfolk and the Warriors shared puzzled stares, "At first I wasn't certain, but I know you realize who I am from that power in you… You're the same wicked demon now as you ever were before. After my father exiled you from our kingdom, I could never think you would flee here and try to establish another empire you would control, failing to control Scorch. Do you truly believe these people enjoy worshiping your lying and selfish self? They just fear you for your power. There is no respect or love for you."

"Enough, foolish girl! Your father got rid of me only because the people stood beside him, for he was too weak to do it himself! Your world will fall soon enough with him on the throne, how can't you see? I should have been the one to hold the army forces in my hands, and that monstrous Notus never would have gone as far as he has destroying your precious world! Tell me my dear, did your father pay a price high enough for all the lost lives and destroyed land in the war against Notus?" she smirked evilly again.

Amy gritted her teeth. "My father is the most loving and most kind ruler there is! He cares dearly for all those around him! Could you say the same for you? Would you even shed a tear if someone dear to you died in that war? All you want is power and control. You couldn't possibly care about anything else. That's the same thing you're doing in this city, to these poor unsuspecting people. How much longer do you plan on lying to them and posing as a false God?"

"Impudent wretch! My powers are far greater than you can imagine, pampered princess! While your father wasted all his strength training the weakling soldiers of Scorch and raising you, I created this beautiful utopian city and shielded it from all of Notus' corruption and darkness. All of its citizens had no home or lives before I found them wandering around the desert and took them under my wing, because only I had the power for something at such a grand scale. I AM the Goddess of this land, and you are no longer welcome! I shall be rid of your filth in my new empire and everyone else who dares defy my golden rule!" flames circled around her entire body as she raged with all her might at the princess of the world that had banished her long ago.

"Don't you see what you're doing here? You're only spreading more fear and distrust among these people." Hy tried to explain to her, pointing at the cowering people standing around, judgmentally gazing upon Amelia, "Your control is fading. And your supposed power is losing its purpose." Amelia slowly calmed down and the flames surrounding her faded out eventually while she glanced upon the citizens, realizing Hy's words might have meaning.

Amelia closed her eyes and lowered her head, humming quietly. "I guess it can't be helped…" she whispered to herself, then quickly raised her view to Amy once more, smirking devilishly, "Do you really believe your power is greater than mine, child?" she laughed evilly, "Let's settle this dispute and see if you truly are what your precious world can call its **princess**… Follow me to my chambers and dare test your strength against mine." she challenged Amy as a twister of fire circled around her entire body and exploded when she faded into the air.

"For all you've done to my world and my people, I will finish this here and now." Amy boomed with determination and started walking to the Shrine, but Trey stopped her.

"I can't let you face that monster alone, I'm going with you." Trey explained to her, "Max, Hy, stay here and keep an eye on Kelly. Don't let anything happen to her."

"Got it." the boys both nodded in agreement, still armed with their weapons and a cautious eye on Amelia's guards.

The guards stationed at the entrance to Amelia's Shrine stepped sideways to allow passage to Trey and Amy who swiftly ran inside. Max and Hy attempted to run towards Kelly tied up near the Shrine's entrance but a guard pointed his sword at them, stopping them from coming any closer as they growled at him. The townspeople chattered frantically.

"What will happen to us now that the Mistress has been agitated…?" a man from the crowd cautiously asked.

"Will we be alright in the end…?" a frightened woman questioned.

"Don't be alarmed, people." Hy attempted to calm them down, "You'll be in safe hands. This is our job."

"Fancy words, Mr. Cool…" Max whispered to Hy, "You absolutely sure Amy can beat that freak Amelia?"

Hy glanced over at him as he glanced back, not saying a word.


	27. Chapter 27 Firefight

**Chapter 3**

"Firefight"

Trey and Amy charged into Amelia's quarters as she stood there waiting, a demonic smirk on her face. Almost instantly, she flew up into the air and remained there floating, hands held beside her body in a sort of summoning pose as two giant fireballs appeared to float above her. Amy started summoning a flame around the hand in which she held no bow and arrow in a similar fashion, waiting to see if Amelia makes a move. At the same time Trey held his sword in a fighting stance, coating it with electricity, but Amy raised her bow in front of Trey to prevent him from participating in the fight.

"No, Trey… This is solely my battle. I won't let her have her way any longer."

Trey glanced at her. "But… Amy… Are you sure you can do it alone?"

She nodded, not taking her eyes off Amelia for a second. Trey frowned at her for a moment, but then lowered his sword and stepped back a bit, glancing at Amelia with anger.

"My… Such bravery, little princess." Amelia laughed as Amy narrowed her eyes in a frown, "So tell me… What were you even planning to accomplish by disrupting the peace in my domain?"

"The crystal of water is located in your city. It needs to be in our possession." Amy explained to her, as she hummed through a smirk, "Where is it?"

"Just as I thought. I realized that crystal was far too valuable to be left alone in my hands. It's safely tucked away beneath the phoenix fountain outside my chambers. But forgive me for saying that you will never have that crystal, my dear. I'm still not quite finished using it…"

"What could you possibly do with it?" Trey asked.

"You see, that's none of your business, now, is it?" Amelia calmly explained.

"She's obviously going to try and expand her alleged **empire** with all the crystals she can get." Amy stated, to which Amelia simply smirked with narrowed eyes, "You failed to do such a thing on our home world; you will fail here as well."

"Very well, princess, you were close enough. I suppose there's no harm in explaining myself since you won't be allowed to go any further… I was planning to submit all the people to my will as I steal the natural riches with the crystals' powers and make them come to me for necessary supplies." she laughed, looking down on Trey and Amy pitifully, "And who are you to disagree?"

"We should've left you to Notus' care instead, you wouldn't stand a chance." Trey warned her decisively, "But now it's too late. We'll have to get rid of you ourselves." he smirked.

Amelia laughed again. "Notus needs to fuel his powers with all his beloved crystals, and once I've had them, I'd easily rid of his blight once and for all, the people would worship me and I would establish another empire right here on your precious Sapphire."

Trey gritted his teeth, fearing that what she says might actually come true. "Yeah… And too bad you have no clue where and how to even find them. Poor you." he tried to disrupt her even just a bit.

"No matter. It would be far too easy after I got you off my back. And if you truly are the Warriors of Light that have supposedly recently appeared to fight Notus…your powers will be a great addition to mine once I've drained them with the crystals." she laughed sinisterly.

Trey narrowed his eyes. "…So she did know about us after all."

"Of course, my dear. I have servants everywhere. You didn't think I'd let you run amok in my city without any idea of who you even are? All I was unaware of was what you were looking for. Now that I know, it's time to be rid of you." she grinned madly.

Amy swiftly grabbed her bow with her flaming hand, charging the arrow to be shot and igniting it completely with the fire. "You won't lay your filthy hands on us." she sent the fire-coated arrow flying directly towards Amelia.

Amelia grinned evilly and created a flame explosion in front of her by colliding the two fireballs she had previously summoned as they engulfed the arrow entirely. Amy gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes in concern. She appeared too weak to face the self-proclaimed Goddess Amelia.

She tried again, this time aiming her arrow toward the ceiling. The flaming arrow exploded, splitting into five separate arrows all flying towards Amelia from different directions. Amelia moved her hand swiftly in front of her, from right to left, creating a giant fire wall that mimicked her hand movement and extinguished all the flying arrows. Amy widened her eyes in shock and gasped sharply.

"What?" Trey cried out in surprise.

Amelia's face turned demonic as she laughed once more. "I expected more, little girl. Don't disappoint me! We've only just begun warming…" she extended her hand directly towards Amy, flames intensely circling her hand, "…UP!" she shouted as a gigantic fireball rushed into Amy and both she and Trey jumped to separate sides to avoid the impact.

"Amy!" Trey worriedly shouted to her, then growled at Amelia as he got up, extending his hand toward her and coating it with electricity.

Still focused on Amy, Amelia simply glanced over at Trey without any worry. "Stay out of this, boy!" she swiftly raised one hand into the air and encaged Trey in a giant ring of fire.

Just as he was about to shoot an electric bolt at Amelia, the ring of fire appeared and he quickly retracted his hand with a sharp yell from the sudden burning heat.

"Trey!" Amy shouted as she regained her composure after being thrown on the ground.

She summoned a spiraling vortex of fire from the ground beneath Amelia who was still floating in the air, but she distorted the vortex into swirling it around her entire body and spiraled it directly at Amy, who diverted it to extinguish at the ceiling in the last second. Amy sweated nervously. Amelia smirked devilishly, not wasting any time in giving Amy a moment to recover as she swiftly raised both hands above her head and pillars of fire started booming from the ground in a straight line towards Amy. Slightly panicking, but quickly managing to overcome it, Amy took control of a pillar and drained its flame into both her hands, then angrily shot an intense blast of fire at Amelia, who hummed through a smirk and returned fire in the same way. The fire blasts clashed in the middle and burned against each other as Amy struggled to keep her control over her flame and not let it get thrown off by Amelia's more powerful one, while Amelia constantly smirked without any problems controlling her own blast.

"Amy! Don't give up! You can beat her! Just focus and keep trying!" Trey nervously encouraged her from inside his burning cage.

Amy gritted her teeth and started slightly shaking as the control over her fire weakened, unable to penetrate Amelia's, yet she kept forcing her power nonetheless.

"You fool!" Amelia grinned demonically, "Can't you finally see that I truly hold unimaginable power worthy of a God? Your pitiful actions cannot compare to mine! I will fuel my strength even further with your own and I WILL create my perfect empire in this world!" she enhanced her flame and started slowly penetrating Amy's.

Amy shook even harder as she knelt down, closed her eyes and frowned heavily, struggling with all her might to preserve control over her fire, an exhaustedly strained look on her face. Trey's eyes watered as he watched Amy being slowly defeated.

"_Father… Please… I can't do this on my own… Please help me… I can't die here!"_ she thought to herself in her desperate times as her heart started shining brightly, the light growing bigger and stronger, much to both Trey's and Amelia's surprise.

The flame under Amy's control widened and intensified as she slowly stood up again, barely maintaining her balance while pushing back Amelia's blast, yet she still had trouble maintaining her fire's power. Amelia gritted the teeth on her surprised face and used all her strength to push Amy's flame back into her.

"No… Amy… Amy! I don't want to lose you now! Amy!" Trey shouted loudly, tears running down his cheeks in fear that Amelia would burn her alive.

"_Trey…"_ Amy thought to herself once again, a tear running down her cheek as well, _"I don't want to lose you either… I don't want to lose any of you… I must…complete my mission…and return to my world, free from all the fear of Notus' oppression… That's why… I must not lose…! Father…! Lend me just a little more of your power!"_ the amulet around her neck shone intensively, synchronizing with the light radiating from her heart.

The two lights combined forceful powers and a giant spiral of light enveloped the flaming blast gushing out of her hands with great haste, completely suppressing Amelia's flame and burying itself in her figure, to Amelia's utter disbelief and shock with completely widened eyes. Trey watched everything in the same shocked state, eyes drowning in tears. The flaming cage surrounding him disappeared in an instant. As the thick smoke produced by the immense fire impact cleared out entirely after a few seconds, Amelia was nowhere to be found. Trey gasped in shock while Amy's knees shook uncontrollably out of complete exhaustion as she was forced to kneel down abruptly, hands placed on the ground in front of her, all while panting loudly and heavily. Trey ran to her and grabbed her gently by the arms, kneeling next to her.

"A…Are you alright?" he stuttered, unsure of what he should say at the moment.

"Y…Yes…" she stuttered back, tiredness overwhelming her, "I'll…be fine."

Trey looked around the room. "W…What happened? Where'd she go? Did you beat her?"

Amy raised her view towards where Amelia was a few moments ago, narrowing her eyes. "I don't believe…that this was the last we've seen of her."

Trey gritted his teeth slightly. "I hope it was… I wouldn't like running into a monster like that again anytime soon." he helped Amy stand up, her head lowered from exhaustion and still panting, "Come on, let's go back. We shouldn't stay in this place a moment longer." he held Amy gently by her arms as he carefully led her out of Amelia's quarters.

xxx

Once outside, Max and Hy awaited them, sitting down on the ground in front of the Shrine entrance. The people had cleared out from the crowd that stood there, but upon seeing Trey and Amy stepping out of the Shrine, they all slowly gathered once more, questionably staring.

"Are you two ok?" Max asked in concern as he and Hy jumped up and ran towards them when the guards started preventing them.

"We'll be fine." Trey addressed the guards, "Amelia is gone. …There's no need for that anymore."

The guards gasped loudly along with the nearby townsfolk.

"Our Mistress is dead?" a person concernedly shouted.

"We don't know. But she's not around here anymore." Trey answered, leaving Amy for Max to hold her instead while he lifted Kelly from the ground, still unconscious and placed just beside the Shrine entrance.

"What are we supposed to do now?" a woman shouted angrily.

"This is our home, and it no longer is without our Mistress to keep us safe!" another woman cried.

Hy turned to face the people. "Calm down, everyone. I know of a town to the north, it's a lengthy walk but I'm sure there will be a place for each and every one of you. Please trust me and pack your belongings. You should not stay in this city any longer."

The people made a ruckus between each other and complained through tears while the boys shared concerned looks, aiding the girls.

xxx

Some time later, the gang, recovered but still weary, gathered outside the Aruna city carrying their belongings, most of the citizens following in sorrow of having to leave their home, though a handful of them remained in the city, refusing to say goodbye to their lives.

"…Are we sure we know what we're doing?" Trey quietly talked to the group, "We're chasing them out of their home… I don't want to give them false hope again after spending so much time with that Amelia freak."

"It can't be helped." Hy assured him, "Whoever or whatever she was, Amelia kept this city perfectly safe. Without her control, the city would not last much longer."

"I guess so." Trey hummed as he looked at the water crystal he held in his hand, "Removing the crystal from the city as its source of water would most likely lead to the same outcome. But…these things are dangerous even for us, and we're supposed to find all of them… They can easily be used against us. I just don't understand why." he tucked the crystal away into his backpack, beside the crystal of fire.

"Sorry 'bout that, guys…" Kelly sadly admitted, her head lowered in shame, "I just wanted ta be of use to ya by findin' the crystal… I definitely didn't expect that witch ta take me out so easily."

"You were useless like always." Max joked coldheartedly, his arms crossed.

Kelly jumped at him and grabbed the back of his head, pulling it downward face first and keeping it there as he panicked, trying to get her off him.

"Well ya shoulda come rescue me then, don'tcha think Maxie?" she teased him through a frowning grin and a chuckle.

"Hey! Cut that out already!" he protested.

She let him go abruptly, and as he was pushing opposite of Kelly's hand with his head, he ended up falling on his back. She jumped on him and laid her head on his chest as he tried to push her head off him to no avail, since she pushed back with the same force.

"Aww you're so cute helpless like that!" she continued to tease him.

"Get off, you freak! What the heck are you trying to do?"

They kept bickering on the ground as the boys laughed and shook their heads and Amy faintly smiled.

Trey approached Amy. "Are you sure you're ok? I really thought I was about to lose you back there…" she blushed faintly, looking away, "It must've been difficult facing someone like that, and from your home world too."

Amy narrowed her eyes. "I'm certain we'll see her again. I can feel her presence…" she grasped her necklace, "…but she's not around here anymore. I don't know where she might have hid."

Trey hummed. "We'll be ok. We'll be ready for her next time we see her." he assured her, turning to the Aruna citizens, "Are we ready to depart?"

The people hesitantly nodded.

"Then let's get…" Trey started, but suddenly felt a strange tingling in his pocket as he reached for it and took out the map of Sapphire, unfolding it.

A giant circle of light covered the entire map as it pulsated into a large dot to the northwest of the Warriors' current location, repeating the action in a loop. The rest of the gang gathered to gaze quizzically at the map.

"What's it doin'?" Kelly asked.

"There appears to be something more important than the crystals on that location." Hy stated.

"Then we should head there after we've departed with Aruna's citizens." Trey deducted, putting the map back into his pocket.

A sudden, very cold chill washed out everyone as they shivered, covering themselves. It passed after a brief moment.

"…What was that?" Max asked, looking around the desert.

"I don't know…" Hy, usually the one cleverly deducting these sorts of things, was unable to do the same now, "We're in a desert. I wouldn't expect it being cold in the middle of this heat wave…"

Amy gazed at the Moon. "It's nothing good. We should hurry before it gets worse."

Trey glanced at her with a worrying look. _"She's still not telling us everything…"_ he wondered to himself, _"There definitely must be a lot more she knows about Notus and this world than she appears to… When will she open up to us more?"_

They departed to the north while General Vane watched them from a monitor in his command centre at the G.L.O. headquarters, smirking as he commanded Chrome, who knelt humbly behind him on one leg. "Begin the Priestess Phase."

"Yes, sir." Chrome stood up and saluted, leaving Vane's quarters.

Vane hummed confidently through his smirk. "This should be interesting… This is where our battle truly begins, Warriors…" he typed away at his keyboard, a picture of a bloody-red Moon appearing on the screen, "We'll see if those powers of yours are nurtured enough to pose a challenge, or are they ripe for the picking?" he grinned evilly, followed by a sinister laugh, "You won't stand a match against us."

**End of Episode Seven**


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